Stay With Me
by BeyondTheClouds777
Summary: Hiccup is dying from a deadly illness known as calipitis, which gives him a mere two weeks to live. To make matters worse, an old enemy comes back for revenge...and Hiccup's Night Fury.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys! :D So, this is a new story, and I just wanted to, y'know, start posting it, even though my hiatus starts in a few days. Let me know what you think, and tell me whether or not you think I should continue.**

 **And I wanted to let you know, I'm going to be fooling around with a new style of writing for a little bit. It's not going to change much, but just so you know, if it sounds or reads a bit differently, that's why. It's not a whole lot different, but, well, you'll see what I mean. :)**

 **So starts the beginning of "Stay With Me"! :D Enjoy chapter 1! :D**

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The sun was just beginning to rise, sending orange sunbeams across the small island of Berk. The frost that covered the ground sparkled in the morning light, and the cloudless sky promised warm weather later on in the day.

Stormfly landed in front of the academy, and Astrid dismounted, her boots crunching against the frosty ground. She patted her dragon's head in a silent thank you, and then headed inside the academy with Stormfly in tow.

Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins were staring up at the sky. Snotlout looked amused, sitting down, leaning back on his hands while the twins were also sitting, leaning their backs against each other. Fishlegs was the only one standing, and he watched the sky with interest.

"What are you guys looking at?" Astrid asked nonchalantly as she approached her friends.

Snotlout simply pointed upwards, never taking his eyes off the sky. "Hiccup's thinking again," he said as if it were a regular thing.

"Oh," Astrid said, nodding in understanding. She averted her gaze to the sky. A Night Fury flew in circles above the academy with grace only that certain dragon possessed. After a few more moments, Toothless flew downwards and landed, letting Hiccup dismount.

"I've got it!" Hiccup said as he ran over to them. Snotlout and the twins shot to their feet and stared at their leader.

"You've got what?" Snotlout asked.

"An idea," Hiccup said.

"Uuuuugh," the twins and Snotlout groaned in unison. Hiccup stared at them with confusion written plainly across his face.

"What?" he asked honestly.

"It's just that your ideas...they don't really...involve anything interesting," Snotlout said slowly. "They're not exactly fun."

"Yeah," Tuffnut agreed. "You don't even let us blow anything up. How is that fun?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "That's hardly important," he said. "I've come up with something brilliant. I was up all night working on a prototype, it didn't work, and so now I've been trying to think of what I did wrong, and I got it."

"What are you going on about, Hiccup?" Astrid asked, crossing her arms casually while staring at him in a silent urge to continue.

"A dragon whistle," Hiccup said.

"A whistle?" Snotlout said, crossing his arms angrily. "I'm disappointed in you, Hiccup."

"No, not a usual whistle," Hiccup said. "It's a whistle that only dragon ears can pick up. Could you imagine how useful it would be if we ever got stranded on Outcast Island and separated from our dragons? We can't really use a normal whistle since it would alert the Outcasts, but a silent whistle that only your dragons can pick up would be handy."

Fishlegs' face brightened. "That's actually brilliant, Hiccup," he said. "How do you think you're going to do it?"

"I'm not sure yet," Hiccup admitted, "but I'm sure I'll have the solution for it in a few days. Once I can tune it properly it should be easy, but it's harder than it looks. As soon as I get one made properly, the rest shouldn't be hard to do. I think all the dragon riders should have one, just to be on the safe side."

"Uh, yeah," Snotlout said. "Sorry, are we going to train, or stand around talking about whistles and dragons and building all day?"

"Right," Hiccup said. "Okay, we should start by some...target practice." He motioned to Fishlegs and Snotlout, and the two of them began setting up the barrels: three on the bottom, two on top of those, and then a final one at the top, so it created a sort of pyramid.

"Okay, great," Hiccup said. "Ruffnut and Tuffnut, you go up first." As the twins nodded and mounted their dragons to work on the exercise, Astrid looked at Hiccup and examined his features.

He was paler than usual, and his posture wasn't perfect like it usually was. His shoulders were slumping, there were dark circles underneath his eyes, and he looked...different. He was acting less hyper than usual, and that alone was startling enough, since he was a normally active person who couldn't stand in the same place for more than thirty seconds.

Then she remembered what Hiccup had said: _I was up all night working on a prototype_. She had thought he had been exaggerating, but now, he actually _did_ look like someone who had been up all night long.

"Hiccup," Astrid said at length. Hiccup turned to look at her, "are you alright?"

"What?" Hiccup said. "Yeah, of course I'm alright. Why do you ask?"

Astrid shook her head. "No reason," she said. "It's just that...you look paler than normal."

Hiccup gestured to the sky. "It's the lighting," he said casually. "I'm fine."

No sarcasm. No snarky, "Gee, thanks Astrid." If he had said that, then she would have been less worried, but now, he went straight to defending himself, using the lighting as an excuse.

Something was wrong, and Astrid was determined to find out what it was, one way or another.

"Are you sure?" Astrid asked, raising an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "Because you know, when you say you're fine, it kind of automatically means you're not. Can you argue?"

Hiccup stared at her in confusion. "I don't even know how to answer that," he said.

Astrid narrowed her eyes at him. "You can be so difficult sometimes," she said. "Why can't you just tell me that you don't feel one hundred percent?"

"I feel _fine_ ," Hiccup said. "I had a headache yesterday, but it passed. It's probably just because I was thinking too much."

Astrid opened her mouth to retort, when a fireball cut her off. The barrel on the top was smoking while the twins looked at it with satisfaction.

"We blasted it," Tuffnut said.

"We hit it," Ruffnut agreed.

"And we didn't even have a chance to ask it," Tuffnut said. "Ha. All five of those things rhyme."

"Okay, Snotlout, you go next," Hiccup said.

Snotlout rolled up imaginary sleeves. "Watch and learn," he said, mounting Hookfang and approaching the barrels.

"Hiccup," Astrid whispered, "you look awful. I'd feel more comfortable if you sat down."

"Astrid, I'm fine!" Hiccup insisted.

Once again, no sarcasm involved.

Astrid decided to let it go. She would learn more later, whether Hiccup liked it or not.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! :D So, I know the first chapter seemed a _bit_ rushed, but it's intentional. Like I said, I'm going to be fooling around with a few new styles of writing. Let me know if any of them are particularly horrendous. :) **

**I'm going to do shout-outs in the NEXT chapter, just so you all know! I missed doing shout-outs in "Of Peace Treaties and Battle Cries", so I'm going to do them in the next one. :) Enjoy chapter 2! :D**

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"Alright, Astrid," Hiccup said, turning to face her once again as soon as Snotlout's turn was up in which he had knocked down one barrel, "you're up."

Astrid gave him another look over before stepping forward towards Stormfly. She thought that he would tell her when something was bothering him, and she trusted that he would eventually. He always did. Right now, she needed to work on training and pretend she didn't notice something was wrong with Hiccup.

She would learn what was wrong later. He was bound to tell her sometime, and she knew it. As she mounted Stormfly to perform the exercise, she looked back at Hiccup worriedly. She couldn't help checking on him still. She hadn't known him very well for that long, but ever since the Red Death one year ago she hadn't been able to fully let it go when something was wrong with him. She was always worried it was going to turn into something worse.

Besides, Hiccup often liked playing the "I'm not alright but I can make you think that I am" card more often than not, and it bothered her more than she wished to admit. She never really knew when he wasn't alright unless she found out for herself, because he hardly ever told her on his own.

He was strange like that. It was obvious when something was wrong, but he didn't like people worrying about him, so he refrained from telling anyone unless they pried the truth out of him.

"Stormfly, fire!" Astrid shouted. The Nadderhead sucked in a breath, and let loose a blast of fire. The barrels that were remaining were blasted into small splinters and larger pieces of wood as well. Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs gaped at her in amazement, "ooooo"ing and "aaaaah"ing in unison. Astrid smiled in satisfaction.

"Not bad, Astrid!" Hiccup congratulated. "Although we're working on target practice. You blasted all the barrels at once."

"Who said I wasn't aiming for all of them?" Astrid asked as she dismounted and approached Hiccup once again.

Hiccup shrugged. "No one," he said. "Okay, so you guys have got blasting things down...well, of course you do…take an hour break and we'll meet back here then, when the sun's up, alright?"

"You won't get an argument from us," Ruffnut said as she and her brother mounted their Zippleback once again.

"Yeah," Tuffnut said. "No argument from us. No means no." Their dragon spread its wings and flew out of the Academy. Snotlout and Fishlegs did the same, leaving Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless and Stormfly alone in the Academy.

"So," Astrid said, "do you want to tell me what's bothering you?"

"What do you mean?" Hiccup replied, dusting dirt off Toothless' saddle and readjusting it although it was unnecessary. He was looking for a distraction, like he did when he was nervous. Something was up, and she was going to find out what it was.

"You know what I mean," Astrid said in reply. "You can deny it all you want, Hiccup, but something is wrong, and you're going to tell me what. You know I'm going to find out anyway, even if I have to follow you around and watch your every move. Why wait? Just tell me what's bothering you. It really can't be _that_ bad, can it?"

"I told you, Astrid, I'm fine," Hiccup said. Astrid rolled her eyes in exasperation. Why didn't he just _tell her_ what was wrong? He would make things _so much_ easier if he did that.

"You're not fine," Astrid said. "You look like you're going to collapse, and it's not the lighting. If you really were up all night yesterday, then you should probably go home and get some rest."

"Why can't you just believe me when I say that I'm fine?" Hiccup asked almost angrily. "I mean, if something was really wrong, then yes, I would probably tell you...but nothing's 'really wrong' here, Astrid. It's nothing you need to worry about."

Astrid crossed her arms. " _Really?"_ she said in disbelief. "If it's nothing to worry about, then why do you keep refusing to tell me?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to say something else, and then closed it in the end. Astrid nodded, smiling in satisfaction. She had him now, and now he had to tell her. Hiccup sighed.

"Okay, I'll admit it," he said. "I felt pretty rotten earlier, but it's fine now."

"Define 'rotten'?" Astrid offered.

Hiccup shrugged. "A headache, dizzy spells...not really anything too severe. It was more of a nuisance than anything, especially since I was trying to work. It probably came from a lack of sleep, but as you can see now, I'm fine."

"I...really wish I could believe you, Hiccup," Astrid said, "but I don't know if I can. You look terrible. You should go get some rest, like I said a few minutes ago. I think it'll be what's best for you right now-"

"Astrid, I told you, I'm fine," Hiccup said. "Besides, I want to work on that dragon whistle while the idea is still fresh in my mind."

Astrid rolled her eyes. Why did Hiccup have to be so... _stubborn?_ Life would have been so much easier if he would just do what she said. But of course, he didn't, and now she had to deal with that.

"Okay," Astrid said, "as long as you let me come with you." She wasn't fully open to the idea of him going alone, especially not when he looked so...strange. "And also as long as you agree to get some more sleep as soon as you're done."

"Deal," Hiccup said, turning and jumping on Toothless' back. "Although I really don't know what you're worried about. I'm fine, you know. Really, I am."

"Uh huh, yeah, right," Astrid said, mounting her own dragon. "Tell me that later, after you don't look so pale."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, patted Toothless' head, and held on tight as the Night Fury sprang into the sky. Stormfly darted after him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, wonderful people! :D A few of you were wondering when this takes place, and it'd be in the Riders/Defenders of Berk time, just to clear that up. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused...**

 **And like I said, I'm still fooling around with different styles of writing. It's nice to try something different every now and then, y'know? :)**

 **And ALSO as I said in the last chapter, here are your SHOUT-OUTS! :D (Responses to the reviews from Chapter 2).**

 **ShadowSpirit020: Darn it, Hiccup. Don't be so stubborn! :/**

 **Iris Patton: Aww, thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! :D**

 **HappyPup1: Thanks! :D I normally try to have all my chapters at least 1,000 words (which is about three-four pages, depending on the font I use while typing), but it probably feels faster because the story itself is moving faster. ;) Thanks for the review, btw! :D**

 **Galaxy-Star-Pegasus: Knowing Hiccup, he'll probably hide whatever's wrong with him until LITERALLY THE LAST SECOND, because that's what he DOES! :D**

 **Kekejo99: Thanks! :D**

 **silverwolvesarecool: Yes...poor Hiccup...and knowing me, it'll probably only get worse for him...**

 **Literally No One: YESSSSS! :D Thanks! :D**

 **Mylittlefangirlw: Yeah, I agree! :D Going "straight to where things get interesting" makes the story itself a lot more interesting. I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! :D**

 **midnightsky0612: Yeah, he's too stubborn for his own good, that's for sure. :)**

 **nightfury123: OOooooh, that _was_ a bad typo...yipes...whoopsiedaisy...oh man. XD I feel so dumb whenever I have a typo, because it's like "Why can't I type something and have it come out right?" Nadderhead...that was an unfortunate typo...XD Thanks for the warning about it, by the way! :D And yeah, I miss doing shout-outs! _I_ forgot I haven't done them for a while. XD**

 **LunarCatNinja: Well, I don't _normally_ kill Hiccup in many of my stories, sooo...I can't spoil anything for ya yet. I can't say either way...it might turn around, it might not...poor Hiccup...who knows what will happen? And yes, this story's probably going to move a lot faster than my other stories, but I still hope to make or break 20 chapters, if I can. :)**

 **RainDragon28: Yep...Hiccup joined the Muttonhead club. :) I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! :D Thanks for reviewing! :D**

 **Rin Chan: My hiatus starts November 1st and ends December 1st. I'll probably post a few more "Ouch!" chapters during my hiatus, and maybe a few more chapters of this story as well, because I won't be finishing it before November 1st. Haha, there ain't no better way to make up with a fan of HTTYD by calling them something that has to do with HTTYD! :D LOL! :D Thanks for the review! I'm glad you and your friend like my stories! :D**

 **IonitaMircea32: Yep, Riders/Defenders era! :D And yes, I did get your "Ouch!" request. If you want, you can send a PM with the full request, because I don't know whether or not I have your request written down. I'm going to be, hopefully, updating "Ouch!" in November a few times, because that's when my hiatus starts, and I'll probably only update "Ouch!" during my hiatus months. It does sound like a great request! :D Thanks! :D**

 **Aaaannndd that's all the shout-outs for this chapter! :D Enjoy chapter 3! :D**

* * *

Hiccup looked over his shoulder to see if Astrid was still following him. He hoped that she had given up and decided that he was fine, but when he looked, he saw that Astrid was still hot on his trail, her eyes staring into his. Hiccup turned around again, and Toothless sped towards the forge.

Hiccup was having a bad day. He had had a hard time falling asleep the previous night because of headaches and dizzy spells, and when he finally got to sleep it was in vain because he woke up later in the night feeling even worse. His father had been worried, and that was too much for Hiccup. He hated people worrying about him. And now Astrid was worried? What, did everyone he knew suddenly get worried for some reason?

He still couldn't deny the fact that he was either getting over some sort of virus or still in the middle of it. The events of the previous night raced through his mind…

 _He woke up covered in cold sweat with a headache that was pounding and impossible to ignore. He groaned and rubbed his temple, trying to erase some of the agony, although it did little to nothing._

 _Then he started coughing. It wasn't something he was particularly fond of; but then again, who was? He coughed into the crook of his elbow, trying to think of what he did to get himself sick. He couldn't think of anything. It made no sense. He wasn't outside during the rain or a snowstorm, or anything. He hadn't eaten anything that would have made him sick. It didn't make any sense…_

 _Toothless growled and looked at him worriedly when he continued coughing. Hiccup waved a hand at the dragon._

 _"I'm-" He coughed, "-fine."_

 _Toothless growled in a "yeah right" sarcastic way._

 _"Have it your way…" Hiccup groaned._

 _He continued coughing, until he decided to get up and get some water. He stood up, hating how dizzy he felt, and then stumbled down the stairs, trying desperately not to trip. He didn't think he needed to fall down the stairs. He would probably end up cracking his skull and getting knocked unconscious, and he didn't need to deal with that._

 _Toothless followed him for a few moments, and then ducked his head beneath Hiccup's arm to give him something to lean on to. Hiccup thanked the dragon breathlessly._

 _He was still coughing when he finally made it to the main level of his house. It was ridiculous now. He fumbled for a cup, shook his head to try and knock the dizziness away, and then managed to fill the cup with water, trying to keep his hand steady._

 _As soon as he got it, he drank half of it. His coughing stopped, but left his throat feeling sore. He set the cup back down and sighed, putting his hands over his eyes and wishing he didn't feel so terrible._

 _It was then that he noticed Toothless was no longer there._

" _T-Toothless?" he stuttered worriedly as he looked for his dragon. He didn't see the Night Fury anywhere. He sighed, putting his hand to his sweaty forehead. He had a fever. Great. Sarcasm so included._

" _Hiccup?" a deep, gruff voice asked from across the room. Hiccup groaned mentally. Of course. That's where Toothless went: to get Hiccup's father._

" _Hey, Dad!" Hiccup said, trying to sound cheerful and hoping his Dad didn't notice how his voice cracked, because crack it did. "What are you doing up at this hour?"_

" _Asks the person who is also up at this hour," Stoick said back._

 _Hiccup rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I couldn't sleep," he said, "so, I...um...came downstairs, and…"_

 _Stoick crossed his arms._

" _Okay, I had a headache, so I got some water," Hiccup said. "It's nothing to-" He cut himself off by another coughing fit. He coughed into his fist, his other hand out to his father as he tried in vain to stop his choking._

 _The next thing he knew, his father was beside him, rubbing his back. "This isn't nothing, Hiccup," Stoick said once Hiccup finally stopped coughing. He put his hand on Hiccup's forehead and then withdrew it. "You have a fever," he said._

 _Hiccup sighed. "Yeah," he said. "I'm...kind of getting that…"_

 _Stoick put his arm around Hiccup's shoulders and led him back up to the boy's loft. As soon as he was laying down, Stoick left for a bucket of cold water and a cloth for his head. Hiccup rubbed Toothless' head subconsciously._

" _I should make a dragon whistle sometime," Hiccup said without fully thinking about what it was he was saying. Toothless looked up at him. "You know," Hiccup said, yawning. "Just in case something happens…" He didn't know why he was thinking about that now, but for whatever reason, he was. "Goodnight, Toothless…" Hiccup murmured drowsily._

 _His coughing kept him up most of the night. By morning, he was still feeling bad, but his cough was gone. Even though Stoick was reluctant to let him leave his bed, let alone the house, he said that Hiccup could go to the academy as long as he came back if he felt bad again._

Hiccup landed at the forge and dismounted. Astrid did the same behind him.

"So, Hiccup," she said, "you're going to work on that dragon whistle?"

Hiccup nodded. "Yep," he said. "Do you think you want to help me?" He still had a headache, but it was milder than before, and he was able to ignore it without even trying. He didn't want Astrid to worry, which was also the reason he didn't tell her about getting sick the previous night. He told her he was up all night thinking about a dragon whistle - he hated not telling her everything, but he didn't think he could deal with her worrying.

"Sure, I'll help you," Astrid said. "What do you need me to do?"

"Well…" Hiccup had to stop, putting his hand to his head. His headache was back with more vigor than before. He reached out blindly with his other hand, setting it against the wall.

"Hiccup?" Astrid said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he tried, wincing. "Nothing's wrong, I just-" He felt a mix of things: lightheadedness, nausea, weakness in his legs...when he looked at Astrid, her image was blurry. Spots danced before his eyes.

"Whoa," Astrid said, holding her hands out towards him. "No, something's wrong - Hiccup!"

He collapsed and hit the ground, unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, hey, hey, guys! :D So, I have a lot of school to do right now, but I wanted to post this chapter because, hey, I finished it, so why not? :) I'm busy, of course, but I love you guys! :D And I was wondering, are any of you guys dressing up for Halloween? And if you are, what are you going as? If anyone wants to know, I'm going as a phoenix. :) But enough about me! Shout-outs:**

 **Ultimateblack: Sorry I confused ya there. The summary is just saying that whatever "old enemy" is coming back for revenge is also coming back to get Hiccup's Night Fury. Hope that clears things up. :)**

 **HappyPup1: Yep, you called it. Congrats! :D**

 **Enderrider: Thanks! :D And yeah, Hiccup, why do you have to be so stubborn all the time!? Ugh! I don't get him...at all. You have my permission to beat him to a pulp if he dies. :)**

 **Tangled4ever: Yeah, poor Hiccup...the poor idiot...XD**

 **TheInkSplotches: Yeah, I'm changing my writing style around just a bit. I'm glad you like it! :D**

 **ShadowSpirit020: He might live or he might die! I have no liberty to say either way yet!**

 **Galaxy-Star-Pegasus: Yep...poor Hiccup...Hiccup is a stubborn idiot...poor guy...ugh. :)**

 **Literally No One: STOP. LOSING. CONSCIOUSNESS. HICCUP! :D XD**

 **nightfury123: I'm always for the drama. ;)**

 **midnightsky0612: DON'T DIE HICCUP DON'T DIE!**

 **Guest: (#1): Here's more! :D**

 **Guest (#2): THE HORROR OF THE CLIFFHANGER! D:**

 **neobendium: NO DYING, HICCUP! Thanks! :D**

 **Eeveecat1248: I like to torture EVERYONE! *crazed, maniacal laughter***

 **Staria Nightmare: Thanks so much! :D As for whether Hiccup is going to die, and who the villain is, you're just going to have to wait and see! :D**

 **LunarCatNinja: Sorry about that. I'm not good at reassuring people that characters won't die.**

 **KE12: I think I _do_ have a thing for hurting him...I don't know why! I just like hurting him..it's weird. :) **

**Iris Patton: Haha! *so much sarcasm* :D :D :D**

 **IonitaMircea32: Thanks! :D I'm glad you like this new writing style! I'm just fooling around with it, y'know, but I'm starting to like writing like this. :) I don't think anyone seems to mind so far. I've gotten a few people say they like it. :) And ketchup on a hotdog...it's not the worst metaphor ever. :) I like to tell people I'm as weird as "ketchup on a watermelon." XD**

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"HICCUP!" Astrid yelped in a very undignified way as she tried to grab Hiccup's arms before he sank to the ground. She didn't have enough time, and he hit the floor of the forge, laying on his side, limp and unconscious.

 _I TOLD HIM HE WASN'T ALRIGHT!_ Astrid yelled mentally. She was more angry with herself then she was with Hiccup. _Of course_ Hiccup would pretend he was fine even when he wasn't. She expected nothing less of him. But she could have reacted differently. She could have forced him to go back to his house. She could have had Toothless sit on him to keep him there.

And now he was unconscious.

Astrid got down beside him and snapped her fingers in his face. "Hiccup, can you hear me?" she shouted. No reply. She snapped again, and garnered the same reaction: none. Something was wrong with him.

She was aware of wings flapping from outside the forge, followed by the sounds of footsteps.

"Hey, Astrid!" Snotlout called. "I thought we'd find you here. Hey, we were wonder-" He stepped inside, finally seeing his unconscious cousin on the ground. "Oh man, what happened to _him_?" Snotlout said. He sounded a mix of confused and worried.

"What?" the voices of Fishlegs and the twins asked in unison as they ran inside the forge behind Snotlout.

"What's - oh no!" Fishlegs shouted. "What's wrong with Hiccup!?"

Astrid wasn't in the mood to play twenty questions with her friends. She pointed to the twins. "You," she said, "go get Gothi. Tell her what happened." They ran off almost instantly. She put her hand on Hiccup's forehead. He had a fever, too? He was sicker than he let on. "Snotlout, go get some water," she ordered. "Fishlegs, get Stoick. NOW!"

Snotlout and Fishlegs mounted their dragons and headed off once again while Astrid kept trying to rouse Hiccup. His face was covered in sweat, and she couldn't help but notice how pale he had become. Something was even more wrong then she had thought.

Nearly five minutes later, he groaned, cracking his eyes open and looking up at her, blinking rapidly. Astrid stared back down at him.

"You're such an idiot," she said. Hiccup blinked at her. "Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"

"I didn't want you to worry," Hiccup said.

"Oh, you didn't want me to _worry!?"_ Astrid said. "So now you pass out right in front of me and expect me not to _worry!?_ "

"I didn't know I would pass out," Hiccup said in his defense. "It just sort of happened. I was going to tell you, but then I was...out like a candle. Sorry, Astrid. I didn't mean to-"

"Spare me your excuses," Astrid said, trying to sound mad instead of worried. She didn't really want Hiccup to know how scared she had been when she watched him collapse. "When did your symptoms set in?" she asked instead. "How much do you remember?"

"I was sick last night," Hiccup admitted.

"And you said _nothing?"_ Astrid snapped back. How could he be pretending to be fine all this time? Now she didn't even have to pretend to be mad anymore. How could he be so foolish? "Why were you out of bed? You should have been resting."

"I don't know," Hiccup said slowly. "I thought...I thought I was getting better, but I guess...I guess...I guess I was wrong, huh?"

"You _bet_ you were wrong," Astrid said in reply. "You scared the living daylights out of me. Remind me to judo flip you later."

"Okay," Hiccup said. "I guess I deserve it."

"I got the water!" Snotlout's triumphant voice shouted as he raced into the forge, a bucket of water dangling from his tight grip. "What do you want to do with it?"

Astrid stood up, found a cup in one of the supply chests, filled it with some water, and then handed it to Hiccup after helping him sit up. Snotlout watched the both of them from the door.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Hiccup passed out," Astrid said. "I think it's from lack of sleep, but he told me that he was sick last night, so that could also be a big part of it." She looked back at Hiccup with a hard expression. "You should have told us you were ill," she said.

"I know," Hiccup said guiltily as he set the cup down next to him and leaned against the wall. "I guess…"

"It doesn't matter _what_ you 'guess'," Astrid said in reply. "We're your friends. You should have let us know. We wouldn't have forced you into coming to the academy. We understand, Hiccup. Getting sick is part of life, but you need to talk to us about things like this. Believe it or not, but refusing to tell us only makes us feel worse about everything, and it can also be dangerous for yourself."

Hiccup sighed, but nodded. "I know," he said.

"Hiccup!" the voice of Stoick shouted. The Chief raced into the forge, followed by Fishlegs. Stoick knelt next to his son and looked him over. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

"Fine," Hiccup said. "A headache, but other then that-"

Stoick sighed in relief. "Good," he said. "But I thought I _told you_ to come home if you felt worse."

"You did," Hiccup said. "Sorry, Dad."

"It's alright, Hiccup," Stoick said, "but when Fishlegs told me you were unconscious...don't scare me like that again, alright?"

Hiccup nodded.

The twins raced into the forge a moment later. "Gothi says you can bring him to her hut," Tuffnut explained, "and she'll look him over."

"How did _you_ know what Gothi wanted?" Astrid asked, calling to mind that their village elder spoke through runes she wrote with her staff.

"We're not as stupid as we look!" Ruffnut protested. "Or are we? Huh, not even I know. Do you know?" she asked Tuffnut.

"I try not to know things," Tuffnut said.

" _Obviously_ ," Snotlout agreed with a roll of his eyes.

"Nevermind that," Stoick said. "Do you think you can walk?"

Hiccup managed a shaky nod in return. "Yeah," he said, "I think I can." He attempted to push himself up, and then ended up falling back against the wall again. "Ugh," he moaned, sounding more angry than anything else. "No, I guess I can't walk."

"Hold on," Stoick said, bending down and hefting Hiccup into his arms. "Come on."

They headed off towards Gothi's abode.


	5. Chapter 5

**HEY GUYS! :D :D :D How are you all doing today? THIS CHAPTER IS THE REVELATION! Well, part of it, well, not really, well...*10th Doctor's voice* Well, I couldn't say "revelation"...well, it sort of...well...well...well...**

 **HI! :D I hope you enjoy the chapter...it's a _bit_ shorter than the previous one, but I hope you won't mind. :)**

 **OH, AND ALSO:**

 **If you don't like Hiccstrid, my advice is this: Leave the story right now. There will be a lot of Hiccstrid to come in later chapters. And just so you all know, I found out that Hiccup and Astrid were actually dating in Riders/Defenders of Berk (one of the producers or directors of the TV series announced it a while back), and we just don't see any of their dates. SO, THERE WILL BE HICCSTRID IN THIS STORY, BECAUSE THE HICCSTRID SHIP HAS SAILED! :D**

 **Oh, and did I mention I finished reading book 10 and 11 of the HTTYD book series? THEY RUINED ME! BOOK 12 HAS TO COME HERE SOONER OH MY GOSH IT REALLY REALLY DOES PLEASE COME HERE SOONER!**

 **Anyways...**

 **Shout-outs:**

 **ShadowSpirit020: GET WELL SOON, HICCUP, SERIOUSLY!**

 **Galaxy-Star-Pegasus: Yeah, typical Hiccup. Poor guy. :( Sweet! Sounds like an EPIC costume! :D Yeah, I've pretty much investigated all the local thrift stores for costume pieces for a phoenix. I've got my costume now! :D**

 **Literally No One: HE'S ADORABLE! *fangirls***

 **MessyBessyJackySassy: Haha! Yeah, that's what authors do...they destroy the characters they love most. Well, I guess you really can't see what a character is made of until they face hardships. Characters are like geodes. In order to see what they're made of inside, you have to BREAK them!**

 **neobendium: Hiccstrid adorableness...I love Hiccstrid adorableness...they're so ADORABLE! :D *hides* Don't kill me! Please! *runs***

 **HappyPup1: *peaks out from literally nowhere* Friends? *steps closer* Frrrriiiieeennndddssssssss? *even closer* FFFFFRRRRRRRIIIIIEEEEEEEENNNNNDDDDDDSSSSSSS! *races towards you and hugs* OMGOSH WE CAN BE FRIENDS AND HAVE VIRTUAL HOT COCOA AND SING SONGS AND DANCE AND TALK AND LAUGH AND YAY WE CAN BE FRIENDS AND YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE BECAUSE YOU HAVE ASKED A QUESTION AND I ANSWERED IT AND WE CAN BE BUUUUDDDIIIIEEESSS! :D :D :D**

 **Enderrider: Yeah, Hiccup's too stubborn for his own good! WHY MUST HE BE SO STUBBORN!? WHY HICCUP!? WHY!? *shakes Hiccup back and forth violently* WHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?**

 **Wolfie-Dragon: Aw, thank you! :D I'm glad you're enjoying it so far, really means a lot! :D And haha, shout-outs are incredible! Sometimes I forget to do them, but I normally try to do them every chapter. :)**

 **Omegaman17: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I don't use Siri...but good idea, Omegaman, thanks! :D XD *Hiccup can be seen running in the background* HEY! GET BACK HERE, HADDOCK! I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU! *runs towards him shaking an axe back and forth* XD**

 **UptownFunkGirl: Hahahahaha! You caught that! Sweet! :D And awesome, witch with no hat! :D Or Toothless! :D**

 **Iris Patton: Yea, maybe. I can't have ALL the chapters end in a cliffhanger, though. I have to mix it up a bit...for the fans' sakes. :D**

 **Guest: Aww, little Hiccup outfit! Adorable! :D Yeah, I don't really celebrate Halloween either. Just Trick-or-Treating. That's all. :D And Hiccup is adorable. He really is. :D**

 **LunarCatNinja: Yeah, poor Hiccup...**

 **Letstellstorys: AWEESSSSSOOMMMMMME! Eevees are AAWEEESSOOMMMEE! :D :D :D**

 **midnightsky0612: I love Father/Son moments! It's so sweet! :D**

 **NertaFenton7: I'll probably continue it through my hiatus month. The only difference is, my updates will be sporadic. :)**

 **nightfury123: SERIOUSLY, WHY DIDN'T YOU, HICCUP!?**

 **Tangled4ever: There's going to be Daddy feels in future chapters for SURE. I can promise you that. :D**

 **Midnight510: Poor Hiccup...poor everyone. :(**

 **IonitaMircea32: Yep, they're going to find out about Hiccup's illness _reeaaallllyyy_ soon. :) And I know, right? Profanity...I think I wrote "bugger" one time and it cut it out. I don't understand it. At all. -_- XD**

 **Toothless801: I've always wanted to judo flip someone...I don't know why. I just...nevermind, I don't know. :D I'm glad you liked the previous chapters, Tooth! :D And yeah, I don't know what I'm going to do...I might mix it up and kill Hiccup just because I haven't killed him for a while, but at the same time, I don't like killing him. So, it'll be a surprise, whatever it is, for sure. :) Haha, professional debater! That works! :D My brother accidentally dressed up as a surfer dude one time. He wore a blue t-shirt, tan shorts, sandals, and a surfboard necklace my grandmother got him. He got all these compliments on his costume and was like, "I didn't even mean to..." XD**

* * *

Hiccup sat on one of the sick beds, his legs dangling over the side of it. Gothi stood in front of him, examining him while the others stood behind her and watched impatiently. For an exam, she seemed to be taking her time about it.

"What do you think is wrong?" Snotlout whispered to Tuffnut.

"Um...he's sick," Tuffnut said as if it were a carefully guarded secret. "See? Tuffnut wins again."

Astrid elbowed him. She was tired of listening to the twins and Snotlout talking. Since coming, they hadn't stopped, and it was one of the most annoying things Astrid had ever had to listen to.

Gobber was standing beside Stoick. The blacksmith had figured out about it while they were on their way to Gothi's, and had insisted that he went as well. He was almost like a father to Hiccup, of course. He trained Hiccup for most the boy's life in the art of blacksmithing.

Besides, Gobber was Hiccup's friend. They couldn't say no to Gobber.

Tuffnut looked at Astrid in shock of her elbowing him. "What?" he said. "What have I ever done to you?"

"Shut up," Astrid said.

"Okay, okay," Tuffnut said. "Someone didn't get her beauty sleep," he whispered to Snotlout.

Astrid raised her fist to punch him, when Gothi finally stepped away from Hiccup and faced the others. They snapped to attention, watching her carefully. Hiccup stared at her more then anything as if he could read her mind.

"So?" he asked. "What is it? What's wrong with me?"

Gothi faced him again, and then motioned to the others. Hiccup looked at Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, Gobber, and his father, and then back to the healer.

"I think she wants you guys to leave," Hiccup said, narrowing his eyes in confusion. "Why? What's wrong?"

Gothi shook her head, which could have meant anything. However, the Berkians knew better than to argue with their elder.

"Alright," Stoick said, "we'll wait outside." He knew more than anyone else not to argue with Gothi. Unless you fancied being clobbered by her staff, which he _didn't_. As the others turned to leave, Gothi motioned to Gobber.

"Ah, I think she wants me to stay behind," Gobber said. "I can read the runes. She needs me in order to talk to Hiccup."

"But...but I can do it!" Fishlegs protested. "I can do it as well as Gobber can!"

Astrid looked at him. "But do you really _want_ to translate?" she asked. "From the way Gothi looks, it isn't good. Maybe it's Eel Pox. Maybe you'll be the one to get it next if you stay close to Hiccup."

Fishlegs shut his mouth at her threat. It wasn't even much of a threat, but Fishlegs was more worried for Hiccup than he was for himself. _He_ didn't care if he got Eel Pox...but he didn't want to be the one to deliver the news that Hiccup was sick. "Okay," he said. "But please, please hurry. You're worrying us now." They left, closing the door behind them, leaving Gobber and Hiccup alone with the village healer and elder.

Gobber looked at Hiccup and nodded. Hiccup stared at her in confusion. "Sorry," he said. "I don't speak head motions."

For some off reason, she didn't bonk him with her staff like she normally did when he was sarcastic or snarky. It worried him more than he wished to say out loud. Part of him wanted to know what was wrong with him, while the other part of him was worried about what it would be.

"Alright, I'm ready," Hiccup said. "Shoot."

Gothi nodded, and began writing with her staff on some dirt scattered on the ground. Hiccup looked at the runes curiously as she worked. When she finished, she stepped away for Gobber to translate. Hiccup looked at his mentor and waited for him to speak.

"It says…" Gobber began, his voice trailing off. He gasped suddenly, and looked back at Gothi. "You can't be serious," he said. "Tell me you're not serious."

Gothi lowered her head, closing her eyes, leaning against her staff. Gobber looked back at the runes, and then at Hiccup. "You know," he said, "now that I think about it, maybe Fishlegs _should_ do-"

"Gobber," Hiccup said, "whatever it is, I can take it." In honesty, the suspense was killing him. What was it that was so bad? Certainly it couldn't have been worse than all the other things Hiccup went through. He lost his leg, was struck by lightning, battle Berserkers and Outcasts tons of times...why didn't Gobber want to tell him what was wrong now?

Gobber took a deep breath. "Well," he said timidly, hesitating as if debating whether or not to speak. _Gobber never hesitates,_ Hiccup reminded himself. _Not unless something is really bad._ "Gothi says you have calipitis," Gobber said. Hiccup tiled his head sideways.

"I've never heard of it," Hiccup admitted.

"Not many have," Gobber said in reply. "It's...it's a rare disease that starts at the brain, poisons the blood flow, and eventually gets to the heart. It starts with headaches, fevers, dizziness, nausea, which leads to passing out, which leads to the same things repeated until eventually, after around two weeks, the virus reaches the heart, and the heart stops working altogether."

"Yeah…" Hiccup said suspiciously. "What does that mean?"

Gobber sighed heavily and rested his hand on Hiccup's shoulder sadly. "It means, Hiccup," he said, "that you're dying."


	6. Chapter 6

**HEY HEY HEY, GUYS! :D So, like I said, I'm technically on hiatus now, but updates on this story will continue. However, they will continue sporadically. Don't expect more than five updates this month. :) I do so hope you enjoy this chapter. Unfortunately, I will have to do shout-outs NEXT CHAPTER, because I'm tired right now and don't want to do half-hearted shout-outs to you awesome people. That, and my email's having problems again (ggrrrrr...).**

 **So, anyways, enjoy chapter 6, and I'll update when I can! :D See ya! :D**

 **Oh, and P.S., expect an "Ouch!" update pretty soon. ;) Enjoy! :D**

* * *

Astrid and the others, including their dragons, waited impatiently for Gothi to finish talking to Hiccup. By the solemn look in her eyes, whatever it was wasn't pretty. Astrid hoped it wasn't as serious as she was letting on.

She shook her head. It couldn't have been _that_ serious.

...Right?

The problem was, none of them would know until Hiccup told them, and Hiccup wouldn't be able to tell them until Gothi was finished with him. It took but five minutes before the door opened again.

Hiccup stumbled out, looking shocked, terrified, confused, and even more pale then he had earlier. Astrid and the others looked at him before rushing up to him. He didn't even notice, and if he did, he didn't let on.

"Hiccup," Astrid said, "is everything alright?" When he didn't answer, she grabbed his hand. "Hiccup?" she asked. "What is it?"

"I…" Hiccup began, and then stopped. Gobber stepped out behind him, his head bowed, not meeting the eyes of the others. "I can't...I don't…" Hiccup stuttered. "I need to be alone." He pushed past Astrid, jumped on Toothless, clicked his prosthetic into the petal, and then let Toothless launch himself into the sky.

"That's not good," Snotlout said lamely.

Now that Hiccup was gone, everyone's eyes shifted to Gobber. Gobber looked back at them nervously.

"I have to tell you all something," he said, "and then after I tell you, we should probably call a meeting and tell the other villagers."

They nodded in a silent urge for Gobber to continue.

"Hiccup has calipitis," Gobber said slowly.

Stoick's face filled with shock and terror. "No," he said. "No, he...he can't... _he can't have calipitis!_ He can't! Gobber, tell me you're joking!"

Gobber shook his head, and Stoick put his head in his hands.

"What?" Astrid asked. Stoick's reaction was _NOT_ sitting well with her. Neither was Hiccup's. Neither was Gobber's. Something was wrong. "What is it? What's calipitis?"

"It's...it's a heart disease," Stoick explained. "It starts in the brain and makes its way to the heart."

"So?" Snotlout said. "We'll just give him the cure! No problem!" The others stared at Snotlout as if he had pulled the pin out of a grenade. "What?" Snotlout asked. "There is a cure, isn't there?"

Stoick sighed. "No," he said. "There is no known cure for calipitis."

It was as if the world had just ended. Astrid couldn't think clearly. _No known cure for calipitis. Hiccup has calipitis. Hiccup is going to die…_

"How long does he have to live?" Snotlout asked Gobber.

"Two weeks at the most," Gobber said.

Two weeks.

Hiccup was going to die in two weeks

…

The village of Berk was normally a very cheerful place, but as soon as word got out about Hiccup's incurable disease, the mood of the villagers was a solemn one.

Astrid rode Stormfly, looking for Hiccup. She hadn't seem him since the morning, and now it was evening. Stoick and Gobber had called a meeting with all the villagers, and since then, Astrid had been searching for her friend without succeed.

How hard was it to find a one-legged boy and his Night Fury?

Well, a lot harder than it sounded, if Astrid's luck so far was any indication.

At length, she landed at the cove. She felt stupid for not looking there sooner, since it was more then likely the place Hiccup and Toothless were hiding, but she was looking there now, and that was the important thing.

Hiccup was sitting in the edge of the lake, his prosthetic leg in the water while his other leg was crossed over his left one. The position looked anything but comfortable, but Hiccup didn't seem to care.

He was probably preoccupied by other things.

 _Dying, per se. That'll give anyone a bit of a wake-up call_.

Astrid paused behind him. Toothless was curled up beside Hiccup, and when he heard Astrid approaching, he lifted his head and growled. Once he saw it was only Astrid, he sheathed his teeth and let her come closer. Astrid sat down next to Hiccup, opening her mouth to say something.

She had planned what she would say ahead of time: she could start by breaking the ice with small talk, and then ask him about training. She couldn't bring up the calipitis to him. It wouldn't help his mood any.

But now that she was next to him, she found that she couldn't speak. She couldn't find anything meaningful to say.

To her surprise, it was Hiccup who spoke up first.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hey yourself," Astrid replied.

The awkward silence came back.

"Hiccup-" Astrid tried.

"I don't know, Astrid," Hiccup said, looking down at the lake as if in deep thought. "I don't know how I should feel about...about the whole...heart disease thing, but I want you to know that you don't have to... _not_ talk about it, if you want to."

Astrid looked back down on the ground. "Gobber said you have two weeks," she said.

"I know," Hiccup nodded. "It's so strange, knowing when I'm going to die, it's just...I never actually...I never thought it would happen like this." He looked at her, and she looked back at him. The paleness of his face only reminded her of his illness.

"I don't know how you can be so calm about something like this," Astrid said.

"I'm not being calm," Hiccup said. "On the outside, maybe, but on the inside…" He lowered his gaze and sighed. "I'm terrified," he admitted. "I just don't show it because I don't want all of you to be guilty with yourselves."

Astrid opened her mouth to protest, but she found that she couldn't. She blamed herself for Hiccup getting sick; she didn't know why, and she knew that it wasn't her fault, but for some reason she still felt as if she had some part in it.

"Hiccup," Astrid tried again.

"I don't know how I should feel," Hiccup said. "I mean, it's not like I'm...well, it's strange, Astrid. I don't know exactly what...or even _how_ , I should react, but I guess...I just…" He paused, finally turning to face her. She could see the tears in his eyes along with a few cascading down his face. "Oh gosh, Astrid," he said, his voice sounding strained and choked. "I don't want to die."

That was all it took. He buried his head in his hands and sobbed. The reality of it was catching up with him. He was going to die, and there was nothing he could have done about it.

Astrid scooted closer to him and took him in her arms, embracing him in a way she hoped was comforting. Hiccup finally moved his hands away from his face and hugged her back, hiding his tears in her shoulder.

"I d-don't want to die…" Hiccup sobbed.

Astrid couldn't imagine what he was going through, being told that he had two weeks at most to live. She closed her eyes and tried to keep from crying as well, although her tears fell anyway.

"I know," Astrid said. "I know. I don't want you to die, either." She knew it was a stupid thing to say, but in honesty, she didn't know what else there was to say. What do you say to someone who's dying?

She pulled away and stared him in the eyes. He rubbed at them with the heels of his hands, sniffling, trying to get his tears under control.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to do-"

"Don't you _dare_ apologize," Astrid said, grabbing his hand to silence him. She tried to ignore its paleness. "You're scared. I think you're allowed to cry about it." He looked back at her with eyes that were full of terror and blatant worry, but also trust. He trusted her, not to find a cure, but to be there for him.

 _Well, who said I couldn't find a cure?_

"I'm going to find the cure for your disease," Astrid said determinedly.

"If only it were possible," Hiccup said.

"Hiccup," Astrid said, "I mean it. I mean it, Hiccup. Please believe me. I am going to find the cure for your calipitis."

 _Or I'm going to die trying_.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'M NOT DEAD! *Sherlock voice* NOT DEAD!**

 **I'm sorry, guys! Really, truly, I am sorry! I'm on my hiatus, of course, but still, you guys haven't heard from me for a while now, and quite a few of you have been sending my PMs just asking if I was alright, which I thought was REALLY sweet that you guys care that much...I think it's sweet, anyways, and it made me want to get this chapter out all the faster! So, anyways, yes! I am not dead, and I am finally updating! :)**

 **OH, and I wanted to mention, I just got back from Knotts Berry Farm (the last time I went was when I was like, five, so I didn't remember anything and couldn't go on any of the best rides), and OMGOODNESS IT WAS INCREDIBLE! Seriously it was INCREDIBLE! :D :D :D It was super amazing, really. I love the Silver Bullet and the Xcelerator! :D**

 **Okay, so, that's about it! I'll try to update next week! (I don't update a whole lot in my hiatus). Oh, wait, now I remember what I was going to do, ha ha! Shout-outs! :D**

 **LunarCatNinja: Yes, may Astrid Hofferson succeed in her quest. :)**

 **Galaxy-Star-Pegasus: Hiccup and Astrid are adorable. Enough said. XD**

 **HappyPup1: HAHAHAHA! POTATOES! :D**

 **The Interstellar Paragon: Hey! Good to hear from ya! :D And don't worry about not reviewing, it's fine! As long as you're enjoying it, that's the most important thing! :D**

 **BraveDragonof214: Sweet! I'll check that video of yours out sometime when I get the chance! :D**

 **IonitaMircea32: Aww, Toothless' thoughts! I should do that! Great idea! :D**

 **Enderrider: I don't know what it is about hurt!Hiccup stories that I love so much! I really don't! Maybe it's because I'm a hard-core fluff lover (which includes father and son bonding, Hiccstrid, and just about everything else). I'm glad you're enjoying this story! Go Astrid! We're all routing for you! :D**

 **Iris Patton: Hiccup can't die! Well, he might, well, he _can_ , but we don't _want_ him to...XD**

 **Eeveecat1248: Probably. XD**

 **Tangled4ever: Yeah, definitely. Stoick's been through a lot...**

 **ShadowSpirit020: YES! Astrid must find the cure!**

 **midnightsky0612: There will be father/son moments later, don't you worry. :)**

 **Wilderwest: I know, right? Love/hate relationship...**

 **roughgunner: I kind of imagined Astrid saying "Stay with me" to Hiccup, but the other way works too, lol. :)**

 **Midnight510: I can't say one way or the other yet. The only thing I can say is you'll find out soon enough. :)**

 **neobendium: Yeehaw! Go Astrid! :D**

 **Stardust16: Yeah, I don't know what's going to happen _quite_ yet, in honesty...:) **

**Whatever: Thanks! :D**

 **DeathSong: Yeah, Astrid'll probably kill me if I kill Hiccup...**

 **NightFly344: THANK YOU! I AM QUEEN CLIFFIE FOREVER MORE! OH DEAR WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HICCUP? WHY AM I ASKING YOU THIS QUESTION WHEN I'M THE AUTHOR? GAH! *spasms out on keyboard* aaahsjdkhahehgjagshdgjagshdhagsda.**

* * *

The evening of the next day, Snotlout and the twins were talking.

"I can't believe what's happening," Snotlout said as he paced in front of Tuffnut and sat down on a nearby stone. "I don't understand how it's happened."

Tuffnut shook his head. "Everyone has their time, I guess," he said. Snotlout jerked his head around to look at Tuffnut, and Tuffnut shrugged. "Hiccup told me that this morning," Tuffnut said simply.

"Speaking of Hiccup…" Ruffnut said nervously, pointing to the left. Snotlout and Tuffnut looked as Hiccup approached them.

"Okay, okay," Tuffnut whispered as Hiccup passed them, "whatever you do, don't mention C...A...L...I...P...I-"

"It's alright, I know what you're talking about," Hiccup mumbled subconsciously, not turning to look at them. Once he was gone, Snotlout elbowed Tuffnut in the ribs.

"Ouch!" Tuffnut complained. "What did I do now!?"

Before Snotlout could reply, Astrid walked passed them, following Hiccup closely. Snotlout stepped in front of her, and she crossed her arms.

"How's he doing?" Snotlout asked.

"Hmm," Astrid said, "let's see. He was diagnosed with a heart disease that gives him two weeks to live and insures a slow, painful death when it finally does end. How do you _THINK_ he's doing, Snotlout?" She pushed by him and continued walking.

Snotlout watched her leave before dropping his gaze back to the ground. She was _right_. He hated it when she was right.

 _"Awwwkwaarrrddd,"_ Tuffnut said from behind him.

"Shut up, Tuffnut," Snotlout said.

…

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder at Astrid. "Astrid," he said, sighing as he turned to face her, "I told you, you don't have to keep following me around wherever I go. It's not like I'm going to pass out again, or anything."

"You might," Astrid said, "and I would rather you didn't do it alone where no one knows what happened to you."

Hiccup gave her a confused look. "I don't get it," he said. "Why is everyone acting so strange now? Snotlout and the twins hardly talk to me, Fishlegs ends all his conversations with me abruptly, and then there's you...you just won't stop following me around! What changed?"

"You," Astrid said simply. "Stop acting so oblivious to all of this. You know perfectly well why everyone is acting the way they're acting."

"But...but it's not like...it's not like anything's changed yet," Hiccup said. "I don't want to spend my last two weeks on Berk with everyone acting so...so... _down_ whenever they're around me. I feel like every time I walk in the room, conversations end abruptly, and awkward ones begin, and...I don't know, Astrid. I feel like it's my fault."

"You know it's not your fault," Astrid said. "Don't blame yourself." She studied his face carefully. "You look tired," she said. "Do you feel faint?"

"Not...not really," Hiccup said, putting his hand against his head. "More tired than anything, but I think...I think I'll be alright." He managed a weak smile, and then frowned again. "On second thought," he said, "yeah, I think I do feel faint."

Astrid stepped forward and grabbed his forearm. "Okay then," she said. "Do you want-"

"No, I think I can manage it on my own," Hiccup said. "It's not too long of a walk from here to my house. You know...you don't have to be so protective over me. I'll see you tomorrow, Astrid."

He smiled again, turned, and headed away while leaving Astrid standing there with mixed feelings. At length, she turned as well and left for her own house.

She remembered what she had promised Hiccup the night before.

"I will find you a cure," Astrid said determinedly. "I _will_ do it, Hiccup."

…

Hiccup opened the door of his house and shut it as soon as he slipped inside. He sighed heavily. There was a storm coming, and it was obvious by the dark clouds in the dark sky. A snowstorm, more than likely. Great. Just what they needed. As if Hiccup didn't have enough to deal with already.

Whenever he had a fever he felt chilled, and it wasn't good, since he was finding that he had a fever more often than not. He had had a hard time sleeping the previous night, and if it hadn't been for Toothless who kept him warm, he never would have felt warm enough to actually get a decent night's sleep.

"Hiccup," Stoick said from where he was sitting a few feet away from the roaring fireplace. Hiccup waved a hand in his father's direction, just as the door opened again and Toothless slipped inside the house.

"Hey, buddy," Hiccup greeted his dragon by rubbing his head. Toothless purred and nuzzled his rider in reply. Hiccup then crossed the room, followed by Toothless, and sat down on the floor a foot across from where his father was sitting. Toothless curled around Hiccup, keeping his head lifted and alert.

Silence fell.

"Are you alright, Hiccup?" Stoick asked at length.

"Yeah, fine," Hiccup lied, leaning up against Toothless' side. He rolled onto his right side and looked at his father. "As well as could be expected," he corrected himself.

Stoick nodded. Their conversations had grown so awkward in the short amount of time they knew of Hiccup's disease, and Hiccup wasn't liking the way it was going. He shut his eyes and tried to forget the fact that he was dying. One week and six days left to live at least. Why was he counting? Why couldn't he get it out of his mind?

There was a newly discovered pain in his chest that was also unignorable, and it caused breathing in too deeply to hurt. However, he forgot about it as best as he could have and remained content, leaning up against his dragon with his father watching him.

There was no where else he would have rather been.

He didn't open his eyes even when he heard his father stand. He felt too comfortable, letting his body finally relax, forgetting about his worries at the time being and trying to live in the moment. He figured that Stoick was going to bed; after all, as Chief of the village, Stoick was up early and often stayed up late as well. Sleep was precious, and Hiccup understood that.

However, he heard the footsteps of his father returning, and then felt something warm draped over his shoulders and the rest of his body. He cracked his eyes open, looking at his father and then at the blanket that was covering him.

"Thanks, Dad," Hiccup managed. He felt exhausted all of a sudden, and couldn't manage many words. Stoick nodded and then sat back. He didn't make any other move. "You don't...have to stay," Hiccup said.

"I'm going to," Stoick said.

"But Dad-" Hiccup tried, stopping when Stoick put his hand on Hiccup's head to silence him.

"I don't want you to be alone, son," Stoick said. "And I certainly don't want you worrying about me. You just get some sleep, Hiccup."

Hiccup felt too tired to argue. He nodded drowsily, and let sleep claim him.

…

"Sir, we're nearing the isle of Berk."

"Good. How many days approximately until we get there?"

"Uh...it'll still be about a week, sire."

"Are we going as fast as we can?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Are you _sure_?"

"Positive."

"Good. Do you remember the plan?"

"Uh…"

"IDIOT! The plan! Remember? First, we nab Hiccup's friends, and then, we trick him into giving himself up to us, and then, we'll take him to our homeland, and have him surrender his Night Fury and all the things concerning training the beast!"

"But Sir...this plan, it's just...it's crazy."

"No. Not quite _crazy_. I'd say it's a little bit... _deranged."_


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey again, guys! :) So, I'm going to skip forward a bit (you'll see when when you read the chapter), I hope you don't mind. I just don't think there's a whole lot I can do. I'll give you a full author's note at the end of the chapter. :)**

 **And unfortunately, I can't do shout-outs this chapter, but I'll do them next chapter, I promise! :D Enjoy chapter 8, guys! :D**

* * *

Stoick watched Hiccup through the night. He was mainly worried about Hiccup getting chilled, since there was a snowstorm raging outside, but so far, between Toothless wrapped around Hiccup and the fireplace still going, Stoick's fears weren't reality, and he was thankful for that.

When the first rays of sunlight stretched over Berk, Stoick stood up and stepped towards the door. He was reluctant to leave, but he was the Chief of the village. It was his job to run Berk. Before he left, he looked at Toothless.

"Stay with him," Stoick ordered the Night Fury. Toothless nodded, wrapping his tail around his rider and squeezing him in a way of saying _Of course. I've got him_. Stoick nodded, and then headed outside.

He feared it was going to be a long day.

…

Five days passed before any of them hardly knew what was happening. Hiccup didn't get better, even slightly. He just continued getting worse. He could hardly fly Toothless without getting nauseous, and breathing became harder. His fevers kept him indoors most of the time, as did the frequent snowstorms. All in all, the villagers were growing more worried by the day.

Hiccup was hardly even eating anymore.

It was on the six day since knowing about Hiccup's illness that Hiccup showed up at the academy, walking alongside Toothless, avoiding large patches of snow whenever possible. The other riders turned to look at him, looking shocked. He looked back at them casually.

"Top of the morning," he said.

"What are you doing up?" Astrid asked. "You should be sleeping."

Hiccup sighed. "I know," he said, "but I wanted to do something with you guys as far as training goes. I'm tired of being tired, and I'm sick of being sick. I wish things could just be the way they used to be. Can you guys pretend for one day that I'm not dying?"

The others exchanged glances.

"You don't know what you're asking of us, Hiccup," Fishlegs said calmly. "If one of us were in your place, would you be able to pretend that they were fine, even for a few minutes? Would it be easy?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it. "No," he said. "You're right. I just wish...nevermind what I wish. It doesn't matter. All of you, ten laps around the academy."

Instead of arguing as they would have done any other day, Snotlout, the twins and Fishlegs mounted their dragons and began circling the academy, for once in their lives not bickering or calling out for a contest.

All of them left besides Astrid and Hiccup.

"Hiccup," Astrid said, "maybe you should go back and rest some. You don't look too good."

Hiccup sighed. "I know," he said. "I feel fine, though, which is..."

"Please, Hiccup," Astrid said. "Don't lie to me anymore, alright? It's been nearly a week already. You don't have to hide anything."

Hiccup glanced up at her. "I'm scared," he admitted quietly.

Astrid stepped forward and hugged him, and after a moment he hugged her back. She knew he was scared without him telling her. She knew that she would be terrified if she were in his position, and she couldn't blame him for feeling like he was feeling.

"I feel terrible," he said. "It's on and off, too. Everytime I feel better, I think...I think that maybe, maybe...maybe I'm getting better, but then I feel worse, and I...I don't know when I'm going to die. Every day it gets harder, and I...I…" His voice trailed off, and he sighed, closing his eyes. "I-I'm...I'm scared of...of...d-dyin…"

"Sh, okay," Astrid said, trying to sound as calming as possible. It wasn't really in her nature to be caring, but Hiccup...Hiccup was different. She loved him and cared about him. "You don't have to cry, I've got you."

"I'm tired," Hiccup sighed. His voice sounded strained and choked. "I'm always tired nowadays, and...and I always feel...awful. And it...it doesn't get better for very long. When it does, it...it always seems worse, when it comes back, and it...it hurts..."

"I know," Astrid said. She could read him like a book more often than not. She didn't even need him to speak for her to know what he was feeling half the time. She was glad he trusted her enough to talk to her, though, and thinking about that made her feel momentarily pleased.

She could feel his heartbeat in their embrace. It was fast and sporadic. Astrid decided not to mention it. Hiccup was already scared as it was, and she knew that there was no need to make it worse.

She also took notice of how thin he was. The past six days, he had been eating less and less, and it showed painfully. She hugged him tighter, his feverish head pressed against her cheek. She pulled away, her hands on top of his shoulders.

"Come on, I'm taking you home," she said. "Think you can go by dragonback?"

Hiccup turned a pale shade of green.

"Okay, I guess not," Astrid concluded. She wished that she could just yank him on Stormfly and fly him back to his house, but she didn't need him getting sick along the way. "Come on," she coaxed.

"What about them?" Hiccup asked her, pointing shakily into the air. Astrid looked back up at the other riders as they continued to fly around the academy.

"Keep doing that until I tell you to stop!" Astrid called up to them, cupping a hand around her mouth. _That'll keep 'em busy for a few hours_ , she thought.

"Got it!" Tuffnut shouted back. "Sounds brilliant! Hey, I feel dizzy! I like it! Watch me go upside down! Wow! All the blood is rushing to my head! It's glorious!"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Okay, good," she said. "Don't stop!" she added as she led Hiccup out of the academy carefully, Toothless and Stormfly following them closely.

* * *

 **So, guys, as you can see, like I told you earlier, I skipped five days already in this chapter. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time just dealing with Hiccup being sick because I wanted to focus on getting the real story underway, but if you guys want, I could probably do a few little snippets in "Ouch!" just dealing with the first five days when Hiccup was sick. :)**

 **So, let me know what you think! I love you guys! :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**So hey guys! Long time no see! :)**

 **Alright, for those of you who haven't seen, go check out "Prepared Speech" please, if you fancy. Important author's note goin' on there, yeah.**

 **And there was something I forgot to add: I'll still post one-shots occasionally, just so you guys know, after I take my temporary leave. So, I know I said last chapter I'd do shout-outs, but that was like, what, a month ago, and my email isn't working very well right now, so I'll have to catch up on shout-outs next chapter! As usual, I love you guys, and I'll see you all later! :) Enjoy chapter 9! :)**

* * *

Stoick stood up from his seat as soon as he heard a knock on the front door. It was nearing nightfall, and he hadn't seen Hiccup since the afternoon. He was beginning to grow worried. Hiccup was getting worse, and that was enough to worry anyone.

When there was a frantic knock on the door, Stoick feared the worst. He stood up, raced over, and opened it. Astrid was standing, her arms positioned around Hiccup. He was pale and drowsy looking, as if he hadn't slept for a week.

"He's sick again," Astrid said, almost desperately as Stoick reached forward to take hold of his son in the place of the girl. Hiccup moaned pitifully in response, sounding years younger than he was. He gasped, wrapping his arms around his chest.

"Astrid, would you mind fetching some water?" Stoick said, although it was more of a statement then a question. Astrid nodded and raced off instantly as Stoick carried Hiccup upstairs and laid him in his bed.

"Dad," Hiccup said breathlessly, gasping for breath, "it's...it's happening again." Stoick didn't want to think of the first time it happened. The first time it happened, nearly two days previously, Stoick and Astrid had panicked, because Hiccup wasn't breathing properly, and he kept clutching at his chest. Astrid had run for the healer while Stoick tried to calm Hiccup down again (since the boy was panicking), and when Gothi finally came, she wrote that it was normal for someone with calipitis to go through chest pains and problems breathing. She also wrote out in runes that Stoick should expect them to get worse.

Now, it was happening for a second time, and Stoick could only hope that it wasn't worse than the first time.

"Dad," Hiccup whispered, "am...am I...am I going to die?" Stoick could see clearly that Hiccup was terrified; then again, who wouldn't be? Stoick didn't know how he should have answered, but instead of hesitating, he grabbed Hiccup's hand and held it tightly.

"No," he said. "No you won't." He didn't know whether or not Hiccup would live or die that night, but he wasn't going to tell Hiccup that. He was Hiccup's father. It was his job to be encouraging, and also be there for his son when he needed him the most, which was now.

"Dad," Hiccup said.

"Breathe, Hiccup," Stoick said. "Deep breath in, deep breath out." Hiccup nodded shakily, closing his eyes, trying to relax although it did next to nothing. Inhaling made him feel as though someone were snapping each of his ribs one by one, and exhaling made it feel even worse.

But he knew that he couldn't stop breathing, and that kept him from stopping. Between that and his father beside him, and Toothless who was standing at the side of the bed.

It only took a few minutes for Hiccup to fall asleep after that. His chest rose and fell shakily, but the fact that he was still breathing was comforting. Stoick brushed Hiccup's bangs away from his eyes and felt his forehead. He didn't have a fever anymore, and Stoick sighed with relief. At least Hiccup was sleeping peacefully.

The sound of the door opening and closing met Stoick's ears, followed by footsteps. Astrid appeared in the doorway, a bucket of water held in her hands.

"Is he asleep?" she asked.

Stoick nodded. "Aye," he said. "He's exhausted."

"He keeps trying to hide it from everyone," Astrid said. "I told him he shouldn't, but you know how stubborn he is."

Stoick nodded yet again. Astrid wrung her hands together nervously, looking torn between speaking and staying silent. "Is there anything else I can do to help, Sir?" she asked at length.

Stoick shook his head. "I don't think so," he said. "But thank you for offering. I appreciate you looking after him, Astrid."

"Of course," Astrid said kindly. "I know he would do the same for me were I in his position. It's the least I can do after everything he's done for me."

Neither one of them mentioned the fact that Hiccup was dying.

Neither of them had the heart.

…

Stoick sat down across from Gobber at the Great Hall the next morning. Gobber looked at his friend with pity in his expression. "Are you alright there, Stoick?" Gobber asked calmly, trying to sound as caring as possible.

Stoick sighed and nodded. "Aye, Gobber," he said. " _I'm_ alright...in a sense. I'm worried about Hiccup."

"The whole village is," Gobber said, trying to keep his voice as calm as he could have mustered, although he sounded more worried than anything. "Have you seen Astrid lately? She won't leave Hiccup's side. Hiccup told me it annoys him, but on the other hand...well, he's grateful for her support. She's been extremely protective over him the past week."

Stoick sighed once again, running his hand over his eyes. "It happened so suddenly," he said. "I never actually imagined something like this ever taking place. What about you?"

Gobber shook his head. "Me neither," Gobber said, "but there really isn't anything we can do about it. I know you probably don't want to be reminded, but he's only got a week to live at most."

Stoick dropped his gaze to the floor as he drummed his fingers on the table. "I feel so helpless," he said.

"I know," Gobber said, "we all do, but the only thing we can do for Hiccup now is just be there for him. And in honesty, Stoick, he appreciates it more than he would admit. What else can we do?"

"That's just the problem," Stoick said. "It's all we _can_ do. I guess...I don't know, Gobber. I don't think I could lose him. Not after Val. Especially not after Val."

"I know, Stoick," Gobber said. "But we can't save him. We can only be there for him."

"I'm worried," Stoick said. "He's barely eating, and when he does it's only because I make him. He _can't_ eat much without his stomach acting up. He's already lost a lot of weight, and it's only been a week. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Well, we'll keep doing what we're doing, Stoick," Gobber said. "Where's Hiccup now?"

"Resting, for as far as I know," Stoick said. "Astrid's with 'im."

Gobber nodded. "Easy to understand why the boy'd be sleeping still," he said. "He's been through a lot the past week-"

The sound of a horn blowing met their ears.

But the thing that terrified them most was the fact that it was the war horn.

Someone was attacking Berk.


	10. Chapter 10

**Alright, guys, so it's been considerably longer than I wanted it to be, but here it is! Sorry, with Christmas coming and everything, my life's been like a rollercoaster and whatnot. I plan to post a few Harry Potter one-shots for Christmas, but I don't know. So, this chapter took me way longer than I wanted it to, and I apologize. I'll try and finish this story this month, so I'll probably go update crazy in a few days or so.**

 **Anyways...shout-outs! :D**

 **Eeveecat1248: Calipitis is just one of those illnesses (it's not real, I made it up) which you can't catch...sort of like cancer. Cancer isn't contagious.**

 **Tangled4ever: We shall see what happens! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :D**

 **Galaxy-Star-Pegasus: Yeah, nothing ever goes right for poor Hiccup, does it? ;)**

 **LunarCatNinja: Hahaha, I don't know. I'm not even sure how this story's going to end, so everytime I sit down to write I just think, "Okay, am I going to kill Hiccup or not?" Hehe, yeah, sorry, I'm no help at all. XD**

 **midnightsky0612: TOOOOO LATTTTEEE!**

 **GuardianDragon98: YYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA! :D Sorry, Hiccup...**

 **neobendium: I IS VERY EVIL. I IS NOT KNOW WHY. XD**

 **IonitaMircea32: OH MY GOSH THE SHERLOCK CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! I'm pretty sure they're playing it in the theater, and I want to go see it so badly! :D :D :D SO EXCITING! WE'VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR THIS! :D**

 **Stardust16: Aww, thanks for understanding! :D Yeah, I love you guys, and I love HTTYD, it's just...you can only write so much fanfiction! :D I'm glad you're still liking the story! :D**

* * *

Hiccup bolted upright at the sound of the horn. The first thing he registered was that he was exhausted. The second thing he registered was the fact that Astrid was standing in front of the window, looking outside in shock.

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked, struggling to his feet and forcing himself towards her. "What is it?" he questioned. "What's with the horn?"

Astrid turned back to look at him before averting her gaze out the window once again. "Enemy ships," she said. "Berserkers, most likely, by the looks of the symbol on the sails. Stupid Dagur. What does _he_ want?"

Hiccup knew she didn't expect him to answer. "We need to gather up the other riders," he said.

"Yeah," Astrid said. "We sho…" She stopped abruptly, turning her full attention to him. "What are you doing?" she snapped. "Get back in bed and _stay there_ this time. _I_ will gather up the other riders, and _you_ will stand around looking impressed. You can't be up and about." With that, she bolted down the stairs without another word.

"But, Astrid!" Hiccup called to her. "Wait!"

"You stay," she said, turning back to face him. "Don't you dare try and convince me otherwise. Toothless, make sure he doesn't leave." Toothless grunted and nodded.

"You're supposed to be on my side, Toothless!" Hiccup said.

"Hiccup, wait here," Astrid said. "We'll scare off the Berserkers." Before he had time to respond, she was out the door. Hiccup groaned and looked back at Toothless angrily.

"Toothless," Hiccup said, "you have to let me go. Now."

In response, Toothless unsheathed his teeth and growled. Hiccup crossed his arms.

"Don't you use that tone of voice with me," Hiccup said. "You have to move. Astrid and the others are bound to get themselves killed. I'm their leader. It's my job to make sure they don't do anything stupid."

If dragons could roll their eyes, Toothless would have.

"Look, Toothless," Hiccup said, pinching the bridge of his nose. " _I_ for one am fond of my friends and would rather not see them dead. Are you with me or against me?"

It was either listen to Hiccup or listen to Astrid. Naturally, Toothless felt a load of respect towards his rider, but then again, Astrid had the axe…

"If you won't take me," Hiccup said, "then I'll climb out the window myself. Maybe I'll find a Typhoomerang and ride that into battle. Maybe I can get Torch?"

Toothless growled. No, he couldn't let Torch replace him again. He _wouldn't_ let that happen. He groaned, and then motioned for Hiccup to follow him. Hiccup smiled brightly.

"I knew you'd come to your senses," Hiccup said. "Now come on, let's go fight stuff!" Toothless growled in response, and he and Hiccup raced down the stairs, and then out the door. Hiccup mounted Toothless, and headed towards the Academy.

…

Astrid landed Toothless in front of the training academy. Snotlout and the twins were still circling it, while Fishlegs stood inside it, leaning against Meatlug.

"Oh, there you are!" Fishlegs said, rushing up to Astrid. "They won't stop flying around the academy! I told them that the war horn went off, but they said that you'd kill them if they left when you didn't give them leave."

"Okay, Snotlout! Ruffnut! Tuffnut!" Astrid shouted. "You guys are done! Come on, the Berserkers are attacking!"

"Oh, finally!" Snotlout said, landing Hookfang. Ruffnut and Tuffnut landed their dragon beside him. "I can't tell you how glad I am to finally get off this dragon. We were here all night, and I think you did it on purpose, Astrid, just to get rid of us."

"Guys!" Astrid said angrily. "The Berserkers are here! We have to-"

The sound of something whizzing through the air cut her off. Stormfly yelped, and then collapsed, a red dart in her leg.

"Stormfly!" Astrid shouted, running towards her dragon to find out what the problem was. However, as soon as she ran forward, all the other dragons collapsed after more buzzing sounds.

Berserkers emerged from all directions, crossbows in their grips.

"What did you do to my dragon!?" Astrid demanded.

"Sleeping darts," one of the Berserkers said. "Don't worry. It won't hurt your precious dragons. We're not here for them anyway. We're here for you."

"Me!?" Astrid blurted. "Yeah. Good luck taking me."

"Hey!" Snotlout protested. "What's up? Am _I_ too bad to capture?" In response, a sleeping dart hit his leg, and he collapsed shortly afterwards.

"Now then," the Berserker said. "Anymore questions?"

The others shut their mouths.

"Good," the Berserker soldier went on. "Now, put your hands behind your back, or I'll cut them off!"

The Berkians did as they were told, and the Berserkers tied their hands together.

"Why are you doing this?" Astrid said. "What do you want? What does Dagur want?"

"Isn't it painfully obvious?" the soldier asked. "We want your heir. What's his name...it's long and bizarre…"

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," Fishlegs offered helpfully. Astrid gave him the glare of death.

"Oh, yes, that's it," the soldier said. "Sheesh. Who would name a kid that? It's ridiculous. What's worse, he's the third in his line, meaning that there were two others named that...stupid Berkians. I'll never understand them."

"Pfft," Astrid said, blowing her bangs out of her face. "You'll never find Hiccup."

"Oh, we don't need to find Hiccup," a new voice said. Astrid looked towards the source of the voice, just as Dagur the Deranged himself stepped into the light, his axe casually at his side.

"Oh, look who it is," Astrid said sarcastically, although inside, she was panicking. Dagur was here, and so were the other Berserkers. She knew they were here for Hiccup. It's what everyone wanted when they attacked Berk. But now Hiccup was sick, and if Dagur took him...Hiccup would be in pain, alone, and scared in Dagur's prison cell on Berserk.

The image of Hiccup alone, sobbing in a cell was something she couldn't get out of her mind and hated herself for thinking about.

"Shut up," Dagur ordered. "And listen up. We don't need to find Hiccup, because…" He leaned forward, his forehead nearly touching Astrid's. "Because _he'll_ find _you_."


	11. Chapter 11

**Duuuunnnnnnnnnn...DUN.**

 **Duuuuuuuuunnnnn...DUN!**

 **Dundundundundundundundundundundundundundundundundundundundundundundun...**

 ***cymbal crashes***

 **Sorry, guys! I don't have a whole lot to say! XD Enjoy chapter 11!**

* * *

"Come on!" Dagur said. "Take them to the ships! And leave the dragons. We want to make sure we leave something to give Hiccup a hint."

Astrid knew it was pointless, but she decided to try and persuade Dagur elsewise. "Hiccup won't be coming!" she yelled. "He's busy with other things!"

"Maybe," Dagur said, "but he'll drop it all when he realizes that you're in trouble. He always does. It's his flaw, you know. He's too selfless for his own good. It's ridiculous, I tell you. Far too ridiculous." He motioned to his men, and they led the riders (all but Snotlout, who was dragged) towards the docks.

"Whatever you do, Hiccup," Astrid whispered as if he could hear her, "don't follow us."

…

"Hey, guys!" Hiccup shouted as he and Toothless landed in the academy. "I know this is…" He froze when he saw the dragons lying motionless on the ground. "Oh no," he whispered. He had no idea what had happened, but the darts made it partially obvious. The Berserkers had been there.

Hiccup pulled the dart out of Stormfly's leg and examined it. "Sleeping dart," he mused. "They should be fine. But...what about…" He looked back outside. There were clear footprints leading towards the docks, where the Berserker ships were moored. "Oh no," Hiccup said, shaking his head. "No...this...this couldn't have happened…"

He dropped the dart, mounted Toothless, shouted, "Get to the docks, bud!", and Toothless spread his wings and took to the sky.

Hiccup tried to ignore his nausea as best as was possible, but even then it still seemed nearly impossible. He felt beyond miserable, but he forced himself on, because he knew his friends needed him. They were in danger, and he was a bargaining chip. He could give himself up and Dagur would let the others go free.

Lots of Berkians were already gathered at the docks, mumbling to each other, murmuring words that sounded like "Someone has to do something!" or "Stupid Dagur! Let us kill him now!"

Something was wrong. Hiccup already knew that much. He landed Toothless right in front of the ship, placing himself between the Berkians and the Berserkers.

"Oh, Hiccup!" Dagur said. "I knew you'd come!"

"Shut up, Dagur," Hiccup growled.

"Oh, okay," Dagur said. "So I see you want to get straight to the point? Well, that's fine by me." He reached down, grabbed something, and yanked it upwards for everyone to see.

Astrid.

"Astrid!" Hiccup yelled. Her hands were bound tightly behind her back, Dagur gripping her forearm to the point where Hiccup was sure it was bound and meant to cause pain. "Let her go, Dagur!" Hiccup demanded.

"Well, Hiccup, you see," Dagur said, "I can't do that. If you want me to let her go, then you need to do two things. One, you need to give up your Night Fury. And two, you need to give up yourself. If you don't, well...I'll kill your friends, once by one, right in front of your eyes, starting with the girl!"

"Hiccup, don't!" Astrid yelled. "It's not worth it!"

"Hiccup!" the voice of Stoick shouted as he pushed through the crowd. Hiccup looked at him momentarily before turning back to Dagur. Dagur looked between him and Stoick.

"You two have five minutes to talk," he said, "if you want to say goodbye, because, Stoick, you know what Hiccup's going to pick. You know he's going to save his friends. So, you have five minutes. Use them wisely."

Stoick and Hiccup stepped off to the side to talk privately.

"Hiccup," Stoick said solemnly, "listen to me closely. I'm not going to let you give yourself up to Dagur."

"What!?" Hiccup yelled. "What are you talking about!? If I don't go, they'll die!"

"Hiccup," Stoick said, "you're going to be Chief soon."

"No I won't!" Hiccup yelled. "I'm dying! You know I am! I barely have a week left to live! Don't talk about my future! I DON'T HAVE ONE!"

"You don't know that!" Stoick said.

"I am pretty EXTRA SURE that I DO know that!" Hiccup said. "Why do you think everyone's been acting so...so, sorrowful around me for the past week? It's because I DON'T HAVE A HOPE OF LIVING!"

"Hiccup, if you go, you'll die for a certain," Stoick said.

"And if I don't go," Hiccup said, " _they'll_ die for a certain! Either way, someone dies, Dad, and I'd rather it be me then them!"

"Listen to yourself!" Stoick said. "You're the heir of Berk! People are going to die for you!"

"But not them!" Hiccup said. "They're my friends! They don't deserve it! All they go through, they go through because of me! _I_ deserve it! They don't!"

"But-" Stoick started.

"But what!" Hiccup cut him off. "Does my life have more value than theirs!?"

"To a father, yes!" Stoick cut in.

"And what about their parents!?" HIccup snapped. "Astrid's parents, Snotlout's parents, Fishlegs' parents, Ruffnut and Tuffnut's parents...what about them? Why am I anymore important than them!? And what about all the pressure about the 'you're going to be Chief' soon thing!? What was that you always said about 'a Chief protecting their own'? I'm supposed to PROTECT my friends! Not leave them to die at the hands of a deranged maniac!"

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third-"

"Don't you 'Hiccup Haddock Haddock the Third' me!"

"I CAN'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!" Stoick shouted, grabbing Hiccup's forearms rougher than he intended. Hiccup flinched, staring at his father with wide, green, terrified eyes. Stoick sighed, dropping his gaze to the ground, his grip on Hiccup not loosening. "I can't," he whispered. "Not after the Red Death. I lost part of you there." He gazed momentarily at Hiccup's prosthetic: the constant reminder of just how close he came to losing his only son. "I can't lose you, Hiccup," Stoick said. "I lost your mother all those years ago, and I don't think I could stand losing you, too."

Hiccup swallowed, trying to get his breathing under control. "I'm sorry," he said. "But...I'm...I'm going to die anyway."

Stoick looked up at him. "Don't say that," he said.

"It's true," Hiccup said, looking at the dirt as if it had suddenly become very interesting. "I'm...I'm going to die in a week at most. You know about my disease. I would...I would rather die knowing I did something right then die wishing I had acted. At least, if I give myself to Dagur...at least I know my friends will be safe. If I stay here, I'll live out the last week of my life in regret wishing that I had saved them." He blinked against the tears in his eyes. "I have to go, Dad," he said. "I'm doing it for Berk."

Stoick looked at his son, knowing Hiccup was right while wishing that he wasn't. Instead of replying, he hugged Hiccup, and Hiccup hugged him back.

"I love you, Hiccup," Stoick said. "Never forget that."

"I love you too, Dad," Hiccup whispered in reply.

"Okay!" Dagur's voice called. "Five minutes is up! What say you, Hiccup?"

Hiccup wiped his eyes with the heels of his hands, and then stepped up in front of Dagur again.

"I'll go with you," he said determinedly.


	12. Chapter 12

**JOY TO THE WORLD! OY! TO THE WORLD! DRINK THAT EGGNOG! EAT THOSE CANDY CANES! DECK THEM HALLS SO FREAKIN' HARD THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT HIT 'EM! IT'S CHRISTMASTIME! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEE! :D**

 **Sorry guys! I'm just a bit excited! :D Merry Christmas to all you amazing people, and enjoy chapter 12! :D**

* * *

Dagur smiled. "You _and_ your Night Fury?" he asked hopefully.

Hiccup glanced back at Toothless. "No," he said. "Toothless stays on Berk."

"Very well," Dagur said. "Then I'll kill the girl." He raised his axe over Astrid's head. Toothless roared in fury and growled at Hiccup. The message was clear: _I'm okay with going with you. Don't let Dagur kill Astrid._

"NO!" Hiccup yelled. "Don't! Okay! Okay, we'll both go with you! Just let Astrid and the others go! Now!"

"Send yourself up here first!" Dagur ordered. Hiccup glanced back at his father, and then he and Toothless stepped onto Dagur's ship.

"Okay," Hiccup said. "Now let my friends go."

Dagur looked at Hiccup angrily, pulling a sword out of its sheath. He cut Astrid's bindings, and then called for his men to bring the others forward. Fishlegs and the twins stepped up, Ruffnut and Tuffnut dragging a half-conscious Snotlout between them.

 _Maybe they used a dart on Snotlout,_ Hiccup mused to himself. It just made him more angry with Dagur.

Once all their bounds were cut, Hiccup looked at Dagur expectantly.

"Now let them go," Hiccup said.

Dagur glared at Hiccup just before smiling. Hiccup felt his blood run cold. _No_. He knew that smile anywhere, and seeing it on Dagur was just downright terrifying.

"No," Dagur said simply. "I forgot to tell you, Hiccup. I never keep my word. You, your Night Fury, and your friends are all coming with me."

Hiccup was so shocked that he couldn't think clearly. How could he have been so _blind?_ Of course Dagur wouldn't let his friends go. He didn't know what he was _thinking._ He tried to save them, and now he was in the same boat as them.

That, and his headache was coming back again.

He was so shocked, his head hurt so badly, and it was getting harder to breathe again. His head spun, the edges if his vision darkened, and spots danced before his eyes.

 _No,_ he thought. _Not here. Not now. Don't collapse. Stay on your feet. Don't collapse. Your friends need you to be strong. Don't...don't...don't…_

His knees buckled anyway, and he fell to the deck, limp but conscious. _Get up,_ he told himself. _Get up, get up, get up…_

But his body wasn't cooperating with him. He couldn't move. His eyes closed on their own. He felt so tired. He didn't want to move, and his body pretty much made that clear. He couldn't feel his arms or legs. The only thing he was aware of was the fact that his head was spinning. He heard muffled voices, but nothing else. He heard shouting, and then roaring that sounded like it came from Toothless, followed by the sound of chains clinking and Dagur shouting to his men.

They must have been restraining Toothless. Hiccup was filled with rage towards Dagur and his men, and wished desperately that there was some way he could make the Berserkers pay…

But at the moment, he wanted to sleep. He couldn't move. He was useless to his friends and island. There was nothing he could do to Dagur.

"Hiccup!" he heard Astrid and his friends shout. The next thing he knew, he was being held in Astrid's arms with the others bending over him, looking at him with an expression more worried then just concerned.

"Get...away," Hiccup choked out. He knew that this was their chance; they could run and make a safe getaway, and then just he and Toothless would be taken from Dagur.

Astrid, however, shook her head. "No," she said. "We're not leaving you. Not when you're like this. You need us."

"Let them go, Dagur!" the voice of Stoick shouted. "You and Hiccup had a deal!"

"I decided that I didn't like that deal!" Dagur called back. "Now listen to me closely. If any of you make a move to follow us, well...you'll be looking for a new heir." At this, he drew his crossbow and aimed it at Hiccup.

"Astrid," Hiccup whispered. "Please…"

"No," she said. "Stop it, stop it, stop it. We're not leaving you." She caressed his forehead, and then moved her hand against his cheek.

Hiccup couldn't even get another word out before he passed out in her arms.

"He fainted!" Dagur said. "Look at that! Too shocked to handle a little treachery, aye? Or maybe he's faking it. You know, I bet he's faking it. The drama queen."

Astrid turned her full attention on Dagur. There were no words suitable enough to describe how mad she was at him. She stood up, laying Hiccup back down on the decks, and stomped towards him.

"He didn't faint, and he's not faking it," she snapped. "I can't believe you, Dagur. Look at him! Do you think someone could just... _fake_ something like that!?" She didn't want to tell Dagur about Hiccup's disease, but part of her wondered if maybe, just maybe, Dagur would pity Hiccup and let him go.

Maybe…

What did she have to lose?

"He has a heart disease!" Astrid shouted. "He's dying, Dagur! He can't help you! Why kidnap someone who has no use to you!? There's no point! If you want to think logically, you would leave him here! He'll die on Berserk, and he'll die here, too. What's the difference? Look at him. Do you really think he can help you?"

It was risky, and Astrid knew it. She didn't think of Dagur as compassionate, but maybe he would spare Hiccup and the others. Maybe he would even let Toothless go if Hiccup wasn't going to help him.

"Dagur," Astrid said, "if you have one single solitary compassionate bone in your body you would _let him go_."

Dagur stared at her, before a maniacal smile crossed his face. "No," he said. "We're taking you all. And if Hiccup is smart and values what time of his life he has left, then he'll help me, too, and do exactly what I tell him to."


	13. Chapter 13

Astrid and the others were below the deck of Dagur's ship, their wrists attached to long chains that were then hooked to the wall. The only one who wasn't chained was Hiccup, and the only reason he wasn't was because he was unconscious. It had been nearly five hours (according to Fishlegs) since they left Berk, and Hiccup still had yet to wake up.

"I hate this," Snotlout mumbled; he was the first one to speak since being taken below the decks of the ship. Almost instantly, all eyes were on him, and Snotlout looked back at the floor. "What does Dagur think we're going to do? Why chain us?"

"It doesn't matter now," Fishlegs said. "I would hate to be the voice of doom, but even if he didn't chain us, there wouldn't be an escape. Dagur's pretty keen on making sure we don't get out of here."

"What makes you think that?" Tuffnut asked. Everyone glared at him. Tuffnut could be so dense. Ruffnut elbowed him angrily, and Tuffnut stared at everyone in confusion. "What?" he asked.

"If Dagur wanted us to get out of here," Snotlout said, "he wouldn't have taken our weapons and locked us up. He would have left the door wide open, handed us our weapons, and said, 'The exit's on the right.' _Of course_ he doesn't want us to leave. That's another reason why he locked Toothless in a separate cage. He doesn't want one of us getting that dragon loose."

"But that doesn't mean we should give up," Fishlegs said. "I mean, we could still...we could still try to make our escape somehow. We could think up an idea and use it to escape."

"Who's going to think up that idea?" Snotlout snapped. " _You?_ Of course not. None of us can. Hiccup's the only one who can, and he's unconscious, so we have no help there."

"It still doesn't mean that we shouldn't try," Fishlegs said.

"What's the point?" Ruffnut asked. "Who are we kidding? It's over."

"Yeah, it is _over_ like it is _under_ ," Tuffnut agreed.

Snotlout groaned. "What do you think, Astrid?" he asked.

Astrid glanced over at him and sighed. "We have to wait for Hiccup to wake up," she said. "When he does, we'll figure something out. He will. He always does. He's the smartest in our group. He'll know what to do." Astrid was sitting beside Hiccup, her arm around his shoulders to lean him up against her. His breath was shallow, and Astrid could only assume it was from his calipitis.

"Yeah," Fishlegs said, trying to sound enthusiastic although he ended up sounding anything but. "Hiccup will figure something out. He always does." Fishlegs paused as if nervous, twiddling his fingers. "How is he?" he asked.

"He's still out," Astrid said, "and he's burning up with fever. If he's still like this when Dagur tries to get him to train dragons, I don't think Hiccup is going to…" She didn't want to say it, and when she looked at her friends, she learned that she didn't need to. They knew what she meant; Hiccup wasn't going to be able to survive Dagur's persuasions.

"What do we do?" Snotlout asked, sounding helpless.

"I don't think we can do anything," Astrid admitted helplessly. She hated being helpless. She absolutely positively hated it. But the thing was, she couldn't do anything about it. She hated that more than anything.

"We're trapped here like downed dragons," Snotlout said. "Well, isn't that just brilliant? How much longer do you think we'll be stuck on this ship?"

"I don't know," Astrid said.

"Ugggh…"

The riders instantly looked at their leader as Hiccup groaned. He opened his eyes, blinking them multiple times to clear his fuzzy vision. He looked at Astrid, and then at the others.

"What...what happened?" he mumbled. "Why's everything spinning?"

"You passed out, nearly five hours ago," Astrid explained hastily. "Gave us all quite the scare."

"Five hours…" Hiccup began. His eyes widened, and he sat forward. "Five hours," he repeated. "Where are we? What-"

The ship rocking answered his question.

"We're on a ship," he stated simply. "Dagur's ship? He was...what was…he kidnapped us. Where are we? We haven't docked, have we? The boat's still rocking...we're in the ocean...Toothless, where's Toothless? Are you guys okay? Is anyone hurt?"

"Slow down, slow down already!" Astrid said. "We're in the middle of the ocean, Toothless is…" She didn't want to tell Hiccup that Toothless was separated from them, but she also knew that she didn't have a choice. "He's in another cage, but I think he's safe. No one's hurt. Well, you're kinda beat up-"

" _I'm_ fine," Hiccup said. "It's not me that I'm worried about."

"You're ill," Astrid said. "You shouldn't be worrying about us. You need to rest at least a little bit before we get to Berserk."

"Since when did you get so caring?" Hiccup asked. He didn't sound as though he were being sarcastic; he sounded as though he were confused and was asking an honest question.

"Since you got calipitis," Astrid answered.

Hiccup frowned, lowering his gaze. He didn't like being reminded of his illness. For some reason, whenever he remembered how sick he was, it always made him feel sicker. His chest already hurt whenever he breathed deeply, and his lungs hurt when he took a breath that was shallow. It made him feel frustrated and weak, and he hated feeling both.

He put his hand up against his sweaty forehead. He had a fever. Great. Just what they needed. He felt too tired and weak to care. He leaned over, laying on his side, hoping that he didn't get seasick. The rocking of the boat wasn't doing anything to help his already bilious stomach.

Then, all at once, the boat lurched to a stop. The riders were thrown each a good few inches. Hiccup bolted upright, and Snotlout yelped something no one could make out.

They had arrived.


	14. Chapter 14

**'ELLO FELLOW DRAGONITES!**

 **How's it cookin'? Anyone make gingerbread cookies yet? Chex mix? Any other holiday-awesomeness-treats? Because I have, and it's amazing! :)**

 **HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY FREAKING CHRISTMAS NOW! :D :D :D :D :D :D**

 **Sorry, I really get into the holidays. XD**

 **Oh, and by the way, you guys should check out Berk's grapevine! NEW RACE TO THE EDGE CLIP, DRAGONITES! _NEW RACE TO THE EDGE CLIP! I REPEAT!_ So yeah, check it out! I haven't seen it yet, but I will soon! Got to go, awesome people! Bye! :D **

* * *

Ten soldiers came below the decks, and Hiccup could have rolled his eyes. Dagur was _really_ not risking any of them getting away. As if they could leave. It wasn't like they had dragons, and Toothless wasn't anywhere to be seen.

They were trapped.

Two of the soldiers unshackled Astrid and held her back as if expecting her to attack them. In fact, Hiccup _did_ half expect her to attack them. But she was weaponless, and the fight would be pointless. The Berserkers would win either way.

Snotlout was next, and then followed by the twins and Fishlegs. They were forced to their feet and practically dragged onto the deck of the ship.

It was nighttime, the moon and stars covered by dark clouds. The island had an ashy hue to it that Hiccup didn't like at all.

"Move it," one of the Berserker soldiers ordered, shoving Hiccup and the others onwards. "Don't try anything funny."

If the soldiers weren't right behind him, Hiccup was certain he would have passed out from exhaustion. Not just that, but he was also having a hard time breathing. His chest pains were worse.

"Where's my dragon?" Hiccup hissed.

"Getting locked in prison as we speak," the soldier answered. "Now shut up and move before we have to make you."

Hiccup didn't think he liked the sound of that, and decided that it would be best to just do as the soldiers said. He didn't want any of his friends to get hurt, either, just because he refused to walk.

Plus, the sooner they got to their prison cell, the sooner he could rest.

It took roughly ten minutes before they made it to the dungeon, and honestly, Hiccup barely remembered any of it. Standing outside of the cell was Dagur himself, and he smiled at the riders.

"Hello, Hiccup," he said. "Glad to see you're finally conscious. Now, I need to talk to you about a few things-"

"I am not interested in _anything_ you have to say," Hiccup snapped. He knew it was probably a bad idea, since at the moment, Dagur had complete control over what happened to Hiccup's friends, but in honesty, Hiccup had had enough of Dagur messing up his life.

"But you might if you listen," Dagur said. "Now, don't interrupt. Astrid over there told me you have a heart disease. Is that true?"

A sharp pain stabbed Hiccup in the chest as if reminding him of his illness. He nodded. "Yeah, she's right," Hiccup said. "It's called calipitis, if you want to know."

"Oh, calipitis!" Dagur said, almost happily. "I know that illness anywhere! In fact...well, I don't know if I should say it...alright, I'll say it anyway. I have a cure for it, Hiccup."

 _He has a cure for it,_ Hiccup thought back to himself. His eyes widened, and he looked over at his friends, who looked just as shocked and thrilled as he did. Dagur had a cure for calipitis.

The problem was, Hiccup knew it was going to come with a price.

Dagur held up a small vial of clear liquid. "As soon as Astrid told me of your disease," Dagur said, "I ran to get this in case you had what I thought you had. And as it turns out, you do!"

"You've had the cure this whole time," Hiccup said angrily. "People have died from calipitis, Dagur, and the Berserkers have had a solution all this time? You let people die?" Gobber had told him days ago that many people had died from calipitis in the past. It was known to be a fatal disease, and yet Dagur said that he had the cure? He let people die?

"Of course," Dagur said. "Any more stupid questions?"

Hiccup stared at him in shock. "You let them die!" he shouted. "How many lives have been lost just because you...you…didn't give them the cure? How could you do something like that?"

Dagur rolled his eyes. "Pfft," he said. "Their lives had no meaning to the Berserkers. They were unimportant."

"They were _people_ , Dagur!" Hiccup yelled. "Every single one of them! They had families! They had dreams! They had fears! They had feelings! And...the Berserkers let every single one of them die."

"Blah blah blah," Dagur said. "Do you want your cure or not? Because I'm willing to trade, Hiccup. It can't be fun, you know, dying and all. I'm sure you want the cure. But first off, we need to talk about your end of the bargain. You need to tell me everything you know about Berk, surrender your friends to me, and then I'll give you the cure. Do we have a deal?"

Hiccup knew that there was no way he would ever tell Dagur a single one of Berk's secrets. Never. He looked back at his friends. They nodded in unison, silently urging him to do it.

They were willing to give themselves up if Hiccup lived.

 _No. I'm not willing to let them do that. I don't care that I'm dying. I don't care about how badly I want that cure. I would rather die loyal to my friends than live with the constant reminder that I betrayed them._

"No," Hiccup said. "We don't have a deal."

"Hiccup!" Astrid yelped, sounding more shocked and surprised than ever. Hiccup forced himself not to look at her face.

Dagur looked taken back as well. "I hope you understand," he said, "how painful it is to die from a disease like calipitis. It is a painful death, Hiccup, remember."

"I know," Hiccup said, "but I'm not telling you anything, and my friends…" He looked at them. "I'm not surrendering them," he said. "Not for the life of me."

Dagur shrugged. "Have it your way," he said. "How much longer do you have before your calipitis kills you? It can't be more than two weeks, can it?"

"I have roughly one week," Hiccup said. _No use hiding anything now_.

"Perfect!" Dagur said. "I'll keep you and your friends alive for one week, and then when you're dying and on your last day of live, you'll change your mind about wanting the cure. I bet your friends will beg me to let you have the cure. What do you think?"

"I'm thinking that I'm never going to give in, even to the moment I die," Hiccup snapped in response.

"Suit yourself," Dagur said. He opened the prison door, and the guards shoved the riders in. Hiccup stumbled, his headache and dizziness catching up with him in one swift moment.

"Enjoy your final week alive, Hiccup," Dagur called as he left the dungeon. "Let me know if you change your mind."


	15. Chapter 15

**HELLO AWESOME PEOPLE! Did you have a good Christmas? I did! Guess what? Okay, so, I've been working on a Hermione Granger cosplay if I ever go to ComiCon, and guess what my brother and mom got me for Christmas?**

 **A GRYFFINDOR SWEATER! OH MY GOSH, GUYS, IT'S AMAZING! And I have an hourglass necklace, so all I need now is black robes, and I'm good! I already have really wavy brown hair that I can make look bushy at will, so I'm really excited!**

 **What about you guys? If you could cosplay any character, who would it be? :) Let me know if you fancy! Good day to you all! Enjoy chapter 15! :D**

* * *

Astrid stared at Hiccup in shock as soon as the Berserker soldiers were gone. He had given up his only hope of living, and made it pretty clear that he was never going to take Dagur up on the option. He turned around to face her, his expression unreadable.

"You okay?" he asked.

Before she even had time to answer, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed with a small groan.

"Hiccup!" Snotlout, Fishlegs, Astrid, and the twins shouted almost in perfect unison. Astrid and Ruffnut reached forward to catch Hiccup while Snotlout ran towards the cell door and began banging on the bars.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Guards! Listen up! Dagur told us he wanted to keep Hiccup alive, didn't he!? Well, he's sick, and if we don't get some supplies soon, he's going to die! Do you hear me!?"

Meanwhile, Astrid and Ruffnut, with the help of Tuffnut and Fishlegs at one point, half-carried-half-dragged Hiccup towards the corner of the cell. There was a small pile of hay for whatever reason, and Astrid and Ruffnut leaned Hiccup against it. He was out cold, yet his forehead was burning with a fever.

"What do we do?" Fishlegs said frantically.

Astrid put her hand against Hiccup's cheek when his head lolled to the side. She was panicking at this point, worried for her friend's well being while at the same time, trying to keep a level head about it.

So far, the level headed ordeal wasn't working very well.

A few minutes later, Snotlout ran back to them, carrying a satchel. "I didn't think yelling at them would actually work," he admitted as he handed the satchel to Astrid. "But I guess Dagur really _doesn't_ want Hiccup dead, or else he wouldn't let his guards give us what we need."

Astrid tore open the satchel and emptied its contents on the ground. There were three water canteens, a small bowl, a blanket, and then some small cloths.

Astrid unscrewed the lid to one of the canteens and poured some of the water into the bowl. She then soaked one of the cloths into it and put it on Hiccup's forehead. He didn't even react to the touch.

"Do...do you think he'll be alright, Astrid?" Fishlegs asked worriedly.

"I think so, Fishlegs," Astrid said.

 _I hope so_ , she added silently.

…

A few hours later, Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs were sitting in a circle while Astrid remained with Hiccup. He was conscious, yet still looked drowsy. Astrid was kneeling in front of him, trying to get him to drink some water.

"We need a plan," Snotlout said simply, breaking the silence that had recently settled within the youths. "We have to get out of here somehow, and we can't do it without a plan. We need to start thinking."

"But _how?"_ Fishlegs said. " _How_ do we get out of here? Hiccup won't be able to go anywhere in his condition-"

"I'll be fine in a few minutes," Hiccup mumbled.

"Yeah," Astrid said. "Try telling us that when you can keep your eyes open."

Hiccup moaned softly. "You don't have to be so...barbaric…" he whispered, although he didn't sound angry, even slightly.

"I'm not being barbaric," Astrid reassured him. "I'm trying to keep you from getting sicker. It's the last thing we need."

"We need to get out of here," Snotlout said, looking over at Hiccup and Astrid. "Do you have any suggestions, Hiccup?"

"Snotlout," Astrid hissed, turning around to face Hiccup's cousin, "he's in no condition to-"

"I do have an idea, if anyone is interested," Hiccup said, pushing himself upright. "Which I know you are. You guys have been discussing a way to get out for the past...well, ever since I was conscious."

No one argued with him. He had their attention.

"First of all," Hiccup said, "how did we get the satchel? I don't remember Dagur giving us one when he first threw us in this prison."

"Oh, I yelled at a guard and told him you were sick and needed proper supplies," Snotlout said, "but I don't know what this has to do with anything." Astrid looked from Snotlout and then back to Hiccup. Why was Hiccup asking these questions? What did it have to do with Hiccup's plan?

"What does this have to do with escaping?" Astrid asked, confused by what Hiccup was asking.

"It has _everything_ to do with it," Hiccup said as if it were obvious. She shook her head. It most certainly was _not_ obvious. She still didn't understand what Hiccup was getting at. "So," Hiccup went on to say, "the guard came and gave you the satchel, right?"

"Yeah," Snotlout answered. Astrid looked at him, and then back at Hiccup as Hiccup asked a second question.

"How many guards were there?" Hiccup asked.

"Just one," Snotlout replied simply. "But I really don't think-"

"I have an idea," Hiccup said, interrupting Snotlout whether he meant to or not. "Granted, it's stupid, but I think it just might work."

"We're all ears, Hiccup," Fishlegs said.

"Alright," Hiccup said. "Here's what you need to do. You need to start by making some racket. Astrid, you need to fake some tears."

Astrid turned to him in shock. So far, it didn't sound like much of a plan, but she knew better than to question Hiccup normally. However, this time, it just sounded too bizarre. " _Excuse me?"_ Astrid said. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let Dagur and his Berserkers see me cry, even if it _is_ just for show."

"Astrid, it's important," Hiccup said. "Okay. Ruffnut, you need to cry, too. Snotlout, act really angry at the guards. Maybe throw a punch at one of them. Tuffnut and Fishlegs, you two do the same."

"Hiccup, you're not really telling us much of a plan," Snotlout said. "What are you going to do? What does us acting in sorrow or anger have to do with escaping?"

"Well," Hiccup said, "I'm going to convince them that I'm dead, and you guys are going to help me."


	16. Chapter 16

**So guys, my internet has been awful, but let's see if I can't finish this story before New Year's Day! :D Good day to you all, and I will see you soon! Enjoy chapter 16! :)**

* * *

"You're going to pretend you're _dead?"_ Astrid asked in confusion, and Hiccup nodded. "Why?" Astrid questioned. "What will that do?"

"The Berserkers don't want me dead, Astrid, you know that," Hiccup said as if it were obvious. When Astrid continued to stare at him with perplexity, Hiccup sighed. "If the guards find out that I'm dead," Hiccup said, "they'll panic. They'll probably open the prison door to find out for themselves. And when they do, you guys can take them by surprise. Then, we can get out of here, find Toothless, and leave this island."

"But, Hiccup," Snotlout said, "what about the cure for your calipitis? Dagur has it. If we can somehow nab it…" He let his voice trail off when he saw Hiccup shaking his head.

"It doesn't matter," Hiccup said, putting up his hand to silence his cousin. "Really, don't think about me. Focus on getting out of here."

Astrid stared at him in shock. He was throwing his life away by doing this. If they didn't get the cure, Hiccup was going to die sooner than later. "Hiccup, but you...you're dying," Astrid tried. "We can get the cure for you. We can save you." _We have to save you_ , she thought silently.

"No, not now," Hiccup said. "We have to wait a while before we put our plan into place. If we act too quickly, Dagur's bound to get suspicious of how soon I 'died.' We're going to wait six days at the most before getting the guards."

"Hiccup!" Astrid yelped. "Six days!? You could be dead by then!"

"Then I guess the plan will work all the better," Hiccup said flatly.

Astrid's eyes widened. "I can't believe you would say something like that!" she said. "What is it? Do you _want_ to die? Is that what it is!?"

"No!" Hiccup shouted as if he had been slapped. "Are you _kidding me_ , Astrid!? You think I _want_ to die from this incurable, painful disease!? You really, honestly think I want that!?"

Astrid kept her mouth shut. She was afraid to say anything else.

"Yes, I want the cure!" Hiccup said. "Of course I want the cure, Astrid, but if it ends up putting your lives in danger, then no, I don't want it! You guys are more important to me then some stupid cure! Why is it so hard for you to understand!?"

No one said anything for a good ten seconds. Hiccup sighed, putting his head in his hands.

"I'm already dying, so it doesn't matter when it happens," he said. "Look, I'm sorry I yelled, I just-"

"Hiccup," Fishlegs said, "we get where you're coming from being our leader and feeling responsible for our lives, but I want you to know that you're still our _friend._ You're as important to us as we are to you."

"Yeah," Snotlout agreed with a nod of his head. "We'd fight a hundred Berserkers to get that 'stupid cure', just for your information."

"Yeah, totally," Tuffnut said.

Hiccup sighed yet again. "Thanks, guys," he said breathlessly. "For now, let's wait until the time is right. This is going to be a long six days."

…

Each day, Hiccup varied from good to bad. On some days, he would be super energetic and spunky to the point where the others would ask him if he was alright, whereas on other days, he was lying pale, shivering and feverish on the ground, so still that he could have been dead, with his friends bending over him worriedly.

The Berserkers kept bringing them food and water, but despite Astrid's coaxing, Hiccup wouldn't eat anything. His appetite was gone. The only thing he got in his system was water, and even then it was in small amounts. He was dehydrated and sick, and his friends feared that it was only going to get worse as the days wore on.

It was on the fifth day (the day before they put their plan into action) when Hiccup got another fever. The riders were prepared for it, but in the end, even that didn't matter. They still felt helpless despite everything they tried to do.

Hiccup laid flat on his back on the cool, stone ground, covered in sweat and shivering from chills that wracked his body. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were pacing in front of the cell door waiting for Astrid or the others to ask for their help. Snotlout was sitting down a foot away from where Hiccup was lying, waiting with the twins. Astrid and Fishlegs bent over Hiccup, trying to bring his fever down.

"How's he doing?" Snotlout asked.

"Not any better," Astrid replied. She brushed Hiccup's bangs away from his closed eyes and placed a wet rag on his forehead. "His fever's still holding strong." She didn't want to say what they were all thinking: Hiccup dying. The healer had said that he had two weeks to live _at the most_. For all they knew, he could die at any given moment.

The fact that he was as sick as he was wasn't helping, either.

Snotlout grunted under his breath. "Stupid calipitis," he mumbled angrily. "This never should have happened."

Astrid glared at him and put her finger to her lips in a clar "keep silent" motion. Snotlout instantly shut his mouth as to please the girl. An angry Astrid was the last thing he wanted to deal with.

"He's dehydrated," Fishlegs said to Astrid. "We need to get him to drink some water."

"M'alright…" Hiccup murmured quietly, not bothering to open his eyes. "S'nothing...it'll pass…"

Astrid shook her head. "You're not alright," she said. "You're unbelievably hot and weak, and don't you dare try to convince yourself otherwise."

Hiccup moaned in response, turning his head in her direction and cracking his eyes open. "Don't worry," he slurred. "I'll be fine…" On the last word, his eyes slipped shut and a moan passed his lips. Astrid carded her fingers through his hair for just a moment before reaching for the water canteen.

"Shh," she said as Hiccup whimpered once again. "Here, drink some water, and then you can sleep, alright?" Hiccup nodded. Astrid slid her arm beneath his shoulders and helped him sit up long enough for him to drink a few gulps of water. Afterwards, he passed out once again.

"He isn't getting better," Fishlegs said, panicking. "This is what Dagur said would happen! He said it would be a slow, painful death, and it's being slow, and he seems to be in a lot of pain! What if he gets worse? He'll-"

"Would you shut up?" Snotlout snapped. "Hiccup'll pull through this. He's...he's strong."

Although none of them believed Snotlout, none of them had the heart to voice the truth. Even if Hiccup _did_ survive the fever he had, it was still only two more days before the two week point. He would survive the fever just to die two days later.

Astrid pulled the blanket out of the satchel and draped it over Hiccup's quivering form. She was torn between taking it off and tucking it around him. He was burning up with fever, but at the same time, he was shivering as though he were trapped in a blizzard.

"Hopefully the fever will be gone tomorrow," Astrid said. "They haven't really lasted very long these past few days. As soon as he's well enough, we'll start on our plan."

"Alright," the others agreed quietly in unison.


	17. Chapter 17

****HAPPY NEW YEAR, PEOPLES! I haven't taken a shower since last year! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, my bros are bored of that joke...whatever! :D XD SO, I hope you guys like chapter 17! I started a blog on writing a few days ago, I'll put the link on my profile in case anyone's interested. :) SEE YA LATER, AWESOME PEOPLE! :D****

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Astrid woke up the next morning and realized that she had fallen asleep. There were no windows in the cell, so it still appeared dark and musty, but she could tell it was morning by how it was slightly warmer. Her first thought went to Hiccup. She crawled over to where he was lying, now curled into himself on his side, and put her hand to his forehead.

He didn't have a fever, and that relieved Astrid to no end. His heart was still beating, albeit unevenly, and his chest was still rising and falling, indicating life was present. Astrid was thankful for that more than anything.

Hiccup opened his eyes and blinked up at her drowsily. She withdrew her hand and smiled softly at him.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she said in reply. "How are you feeling?"

"Well," Hiccup said, pushing himself into a sitting position, "remarkably better than last night. My head isn't spinning as much as it was before...and I don't think I have a fever anymore…"

"You don't," Astrid reassured him. "You know, you gave me quite the scare last night. Don't do that again, alright?"

"I'll try my best," Hiccup smiled. "Are the others awake yet?" He looked passed Astrid, seeing the other riders sleeping soundly. "We should probably wake them up so we can go ahead with the plan," Hiccup said. "The sooner we get out of here the better, and I would like to do it before nightfall."

Astrid nodded. As soon as the others were awake, they sat in a circle, looking at Hiccup intently.

"Alright," he said after a moment of silence. "We have to make it look as convincing as possible. Astrid, you need to react as you would react if I had died. Remember, fake some tears, scream at the guards...Ruffnut, if you can do that, too, then it would be great. Fishlegs, you need to panic, because that's what you would do, and Snotlout and Tuffnut...act as angry as possible. Are we all in agreement?"

They nodded in unison.

"Alrightee then," Hiccup said. "Let me know when the soldiers get here so I can hold my breath. Good luck. And remember, us escaping depends on this act. Be careful." He laid back on the ground, on his side, and closed his eyes. He already looked so pale from his illness that him being dead wasn't even that hard to believe.

Astrid immediately ran towards the prison bars. __Act how you would act if he really died,__ Astrid told herself. She screamed, long and shrill, and then started breathing rapidly.

Ruffnut screamed as well. "He's dead!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Oh my gosh, he's dead!" Astrid was surprised at how honest Ruffnut sounded. _I have to do that, too,_ Astrid decided.

"No," Astrid said. "No, he can't...he can't be dead! Hiccup! Wake up! Wake up! Please, Hiccup!" She pretended to choke on a sob. "Don't!" She waited a few moments before shrieking again.

She glanced at the cell door when she heard footsteps. "Guards are here," she whispered in Hiccup's ear, so quietly that she was afraid he hadn't heard her. He opened his eyes, winked, and then went right back to playing dead again.

"Move!" Snotlout shouted, pushing Astrid away as part of their act. She stepped aside and looked back at the door as three soldiers appeared.

 _ _Well, a little more than what was expected, but we can do it,__ Astrid said to herself. She looked back at Hiccup. Snotlout and Tuffnut were leaning over him, and Snotlout was pretending to be doing chest compressions.

"He isn't dead," Snotlout said. "He...he can't be dead!"

"What's going on here!?" one of the soldiers demanded.

Tuffnut glared at them. "YOU STUPID IDIOTS!" he accused. "Dagur told you he needed Hiccup alive, and now he's dead!"

One guard reached to unlock the cell, when another guard stopped him. "They could be trying to trick us," the second guard said to the first one. "I'd wait, send in reinforcements, and then come back to see if the boy's really dead or not."

The third soldier nodded, and Astrid felt her heart sink. __No__ _._

"Wait, stop, please!" Astrid screamed, trying to make herself sound as pathetic as possible. "Please help him! Do something! Revive him, maybe, but if you go get help it'll be too late by then! Please help him! I'm begging you!" For emphasis, she fell to her knees and folded her hands.

 _ _Buy it, buy it, please buy it,__ Astrid thought. __See? Believe he's dead. He's dead. Hiccup is dead, do something, soldiers. Buy my lie. Unlock the cell…__

"You're _begging_ us?" the third soldier questioned.

Astrid nodded eagerly. "Yes!" she cried. "Please!"

The three soldiers turned their backs and huddled together. Astrid could just make out their conversation:

"Dagur said the girl likes Hiccup."

"He also said that she's feisty. If she's begging us, then she must be desperate."

"Besides, I kind of like the idea of one of Berk's toughest shieldmaidens begging on her knees. And furthermore, what harm could it do? It's not like the five of them can take us out. Not when their leader is dead and they're grief-driven."

 _ _Oh ho ho, watch and learn, idiots.__

The soldiers turned around again, and Astrid instantly did her best to look as sad as possible. She buried her head in her hands and sobbed.

"Won't you help him?" she whispered. "Please, please help him."

The soldier reached for his keys and slid one of them into the lock. __Yes,__ Astrid thought. __It's working__ _._

The guard turned the key, and doors swung open. The three guards lumbered in.

They left the door wide open, whether they meant to or not.

Astrid looked at Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs, and nodded when the guards weren't looking. __We'll spring on them at once__ _,_ she thought, hoping that the others were thinking the same thing she was thinking _._

"Hey, wait a minute!" one of the guards shouted. "He's not de-!"

The guards learned the truth too late. All at once, Astrid and the others pounced.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey guys! So sorry it took me so long, really! I've had a crazy last couple of weeks. I SAW STAR WARS VII AND THE NEW SHERLOCK CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (THE ABOMINABLE BRIDE) AND FOR THE PAST FEW DAYS MY BRAIN HAS BEEN FULL OF HIGH-FUNCTIONING SOCIOPATHS AND STARFIGHTERS FLYING ACROSS THE GALAXY.**

 **But here's chapter 18! :D**

 **And oh, on another note, I just read a REALLY good fanfiction one-shot by** **IonitaMircea32 (it's called "Memories", I believe). It's really touching. I'm not going to spoil anything, but it really is touching. You should read it. :)**

 **Anywho, enjoy chapter 18, and I'll try to update soon!**

 **RACE TO THE EDGE TOMORROW, PEOPLES! RACE TO THE EDGE TOMORROW! :D :D :D :D :D :D TELL ME HOW EXCITED YOU ARE! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D**

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The guards weren't expecting it, and that gave the riders a distinct advantage. Astrid knocked a guard off balance, and said guard then crashed into Snotlout, who proceeded to draw the guard's weapon - an axe - and knock the flat of it against the Berserker's head.

He was unconscious instantly.

One down, two to go.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut grabbed another guard's arms and twisted them behind his back. Then, they effortlessly tripped him backwards, his head smacking against the stone ground.

Two down, one to go.

The third guard looked at his fallen comrades with shock. Then, he did the wisest thing possible: he turned, and tried to bolt out the door. Well, "tried" to bolt out the door. Hiccup jumped up, put his leg forward, and tripped the guard effortlessly. The guard fell to the ground with an indignant shout before turning around to look at Hiccup.

"You tricked us!?" the guard shouted.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Duh," he said. Snotlout threw him the axe, and Hiccup caught it just before bringing the flat of it on top of the Berserker's head. The Berserker soldier's eyes closed, and he was unconscious within a fraction of a second.

Hiccup dropped the axe and winced. "I really hope I don't feel guilty about that later," he said.

"You won't," Astrid said, stepping towards him. "You did the right thing, although I honestly can't believe that worked. I wasn't actually expecting it to."

Hiccup nodded. "Well, we have to get out of here," he said, bending down and taking the keyring from one of the guards and handing them to Fishlegs for safe keepings. "We have to find Toothless and leave. Maybe we can build a raft to get back to Berk on. We won't be able to all get on Toothless."

"Then let's go!" Tuffnut exclaimed.

"No time to waste!" Ruffnut agreed.

"Alright, then, let's go," Hiccup said, "but first, take whatever weapons these guards have. We're defenseless." He leaned down, taking a knife from the Berserker's belt and strapping it to his own. Astrid grabbed the axe, and the others found swords. For some reason, the guards were carrying more weapons than usual.

 _Are they really that scared of us?_ Astrid wondered.

"Okay, let's head out," Hiccup said before turning and bolting in the opposite direction. As the others ran to follow him, Astrid grabbed Snotlout's arm and pulled him aside. She knew she needed to talk to someone, and Snotlout was the closest person to her.

"Snotlout," she said after making sure he was listening, "I'm not leaving this island without getting Hiccup the cure." She knew she wasn't going to, and she had a feeling that the others weren't going to, either. They were all Hiccup's friends. Hiccup may have pretended to not want the cure, but Astrid knew deep down that he was terrified of dying. He had displayed it before to her when he broke down sobbing in her arms.

He was terrified of death, and Astrid was going to make sure she did her best to help him prevent it.

"I know," Snotlout said, breaking her out of her thoughts, "me neither. But-" He turned around to make sure Hiccup couldn't hear them and then turned back to Astrid. "But Dagur has it," Snotlout whispered, "and unless we run into him by some chance and manage to nab the cure, then Hiccup isn't going to let us get it."

As much as Astrid wished to deny it, she knew that Snotlout was right. She knew that Hiccup was as terrified as dying as she was of losing him, but she also knew that he cared more about his friends then he did himself. If getting the cure involved putting one of them in danger, then she knew Hiccup would never go for it.

"We can't let him know," Astrid decided. "We can do it, but we have to do it in secret."

"Hey, guys!" Hiccup called back to them, and they turned in his direction. "Are you coming or not?"

"Coming!" Astrid shouted back. "We're getting the cure," she whispered to Snotlout as he and she took off after Hiccup and the others.

Snotlout nodded. "No two ways about it," he agreed. They caught up with Hiccup and ran, trying to get to open air. They ran into Berserkers a few times, but the Berserkers were easy to take care of. They were all unconscious shortly. Astrid and the others made sure to stay as close to Hiccup as possible, just in case he passed out or needed help taking on a soldier. Neither of the following happened.

At length, after navigating through the tunnels, they finally came to open air. Hiccup looked back at the dungeon, and then turned to face his friends.

"We have to find Toothless," he said. "You guys, stay here. I'm going to go back in."

Astrid stared at him in shock. _What is he thinking!?_ she thought wildly. "What are you _talking_ about!?" she snapped. "You're not going in there alone. There's just no way. You could pass out, and the soldiers will find you. And then, y-"

"Astrid," Hiccup said, "I don't want you guys to be in danger because of me. You get somewhere safe, and I'll go back and find him. Start building the raft, maybe. When Toothless and I get back, we can leave. Or you can even leave without me. I'll fly Toothless back to Berk."

"Look, Hiccup," Snotlout said, "I would hate to break this to you, but we're not going anywhere. You might not want to admit it, but you need our help more then you realize. We can't leave you when you need us."

Astrid looked at the others, and they nodded in agreement. "Let us help you, Hiccup," Astrid said. "We can. We just need to-"

The roaring of a Night Fury cut her off.

Their heads instantly jerked in the direction from whence it came.

"Toothless!" Hiccup shouted. Toothless was chained and held down by metal bars and ropes alike. Hiccup ran forward. He thought it might have been a trap ...no, actually, he _assumed_ it was a trap from the beginning, but this was his chance to free Toothless.

Then, Dagur jumped out of no where and aimed a crossbow at Toothless. Hiccup skidded to a stop a few feet away from the Berserker Chief, glaring, his eyes narrowed.

"Get away from my dragon, Dagur!" Hiccup demanded.

Dagur shook his head. "You know I can't do that," he said. "Listen closely." He nodded behind Hiccup, and Hiccup turned around. His friends remained unmoved, staring at him. Astrid was trying to run forward, but Snotlout was holding her back.

"If any of them come near the dragon," Dagur said, "I'll kill them instantly. Now, listen, Hiccup. I'm going to give you a choice. Your friends-" He aimed the crossbow at the other riders, "-or your dragon?" He aimed the crossbow at Toothless. "You have ten seconds to decide, or I kill them all."


	19. Chapter 19

**So, yeah, it's been a bit too long since my last update, but my computer had this MAJOR space issue, and so in order to fix it, they reset my computer to its factory setting, so everything was deleted directly off it, which took some time to getting back to again, but I saved everything on a memory stick, so I didn't lose any files, thankfully. :) Sorry it's taken me so long, guys! I watched the first two new episodes of Race to the Edge, and guess what? NEW INSPIRATION FOR A NEW FANFICTION. :) I have a bit more inspiration to write a new fic now; I probably still won't write s much as I used to, because of high school and everything, but you can expect at least one new Httyd story from me pretty soon. :)**

 **Thanks everyone! KEEP ON KEEPING ON WITH THE AWESOMENESS! :D Enjoy chapter 19! :D**

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"Which one will it be?" Dagur said, laughing maniacally. "Which one will he choose, ladies and gentlemen? The dragon...or his friends?"

Hiccup's mind raced. His head spun. His heart pounded to the point where he could hear each beat with sudden clarity. He knew that he wasn't going to last much longer. His time was up. He could die at any moment.

He felt guilty. He had run towards Toothless without even thinking about the safety of the other riders. He had left them, and now, Dagur had them at his mercy. And then there was Toothless, who was roaring frantically and trying to break out of his bonds.

Hiccup looked at his friends. They looked terrified, but at the same time, trusting. He knew that no matter who he picked - beit them or Toothless - they would always stay loyal to him, even to their dying breaths. He looked back at Toothless. The Night Fury looked the same as the others.

 _What to do, what to do, what to do…_ Hiccup's mind raced. His chest burned as if someone was stabbing him and cauterizing the wounds. Breathing wasn't easy. His calipitis was killing him. But he knew that he needed to save his friends, and he couldn't do that if he was dead.

Hiccup suddenly had a plan. A stupid one, maybe, but a plan nonetheless, and at that point for him, any plan was a good plan as long as it saved his friends. "Kill the Berkians," he said. "See if I care."

He tried not to look at the shocked looks on his friends' faces, but it happened anyway. Astrid looked more shocked than anyone, but she also looked the most...knowing. She nodded. The others stared at Hiccup in shock.

 _I'm sorry,_ Hiccup thought. _I'm sorry, all of you. It's a plan._ He wished so desperately that he could tell them, but then Dagur would know, and he couldn't have that.

Speaking of Dagur...

Dagur looked more shocked than all the riders combined. "What?" he said. "You weren't...you weren't supposed to pick the dragon! You were supposed to pick your friends! How can you say no to them?"

Unbeknownst to Dagur, Hiccup wrapped his hand around the hilt of his knife.

"What?" Hiccup said, trying to sound as careless as possible. "You thought I cared about them? Well, you thought wrong! You heard me! Kill them!"

 _I'm sorry, everyone. Forgive me, please. It's part of my plan to get you out alive. Hang on._

Dagur lifted his crossbow to fire, although he looked confused, and Hiccup picked that moment to lunge. He couldn't stand it. He had had enough of Dagur and all of Dagur's tricks. He was through dealing with the madman. He was through being captured, and watching his friends suffer because of Dagur.

He was tired of it, and he was going to make sure Dagur knew it.

Hiccup attacking him was the last thing Dagur expected, so he didn't even have enough time to fire his crossbow. Hiccup slammed into him, and the two tumbled to the ground.

Hiccup was the first on his feet, but Dagur was the first to grab a weapon. Hiccup's dagger had been knocked out of his grip when they fell, and now Dagur had it.

Darn it.

Dagur sprang at him, and Hiccup ducked, narrowly avoiding death by his own blade. Dagur spun around and came at him again, and Hiccup grabbed a stone and hurled it at Dagur.

He expected it to have little to no effect, but it slammed into Dagur's helmet, which stunned him for a moment.

Long enough for Hiccup to grab Dagur's crossbow.

Hiccup aimed it straight at his foe, and Dagur pulled back his hand as if debating where he would throw the knife at Hiccup. Dagur huffed. "You with my crossbow," he said. "You don't even know how to fire that thing."

Hiccup frowned, the realization finally dawning on him. He looked down at the crossbow, and smiled. "I know it's _heavy_ ," he said.

Before Dagur fully knew what he meant, Hiccup smashed the crossbow against Dagur's side. He heard the splintering of wood, followed by Dagur's holler of pain. Hiccup jumped backwards, and Dagur did the same, clutching his side.

Hiccup almost pitied Dagur. He felt guilty with himself more than anything. He shook his head once he realized just who it was he was pitying.

 _He captured my friends,_ Hiccup reminded himself. _He broke his word, kept them from Berk, took them here, locked them in prison, and just threatened to kill them. I can't pity Dagur. He deserved it. He deserves everything I'm going to him._

 _Then why do I still feel guilty?_

"Wow," Hiccup said, trying to keep his voice from betraying his guilt. "You're probably...you're probably gonna wanna ice that…"

Dagur growled and lunged once again. Hiccup merely stepped to the side. Dagur wasn't exactly in proper fighting condition, and that was Hiccup's advantage.

Unfortunately, Dagur was more trained than Hiccup was when it came to fighting. He kicked Hiccup's legs out from underneath him, and pinned the younger boy to the ground.

"I'll make you eat those words, Hiccup," Dagur growled.

"Yeah yeah yeah," Hiccup said. "How does _that_ work?"

Dagur stared at him in confusion, when another knife impaled the tree across from them. Astrid stood, her hand outstretched, her other hand holding her axe. She took a step forward. If glares could kill, Dagur would have been dead.

"Get off him," Astrid demanded, "or I'll kill you now."

Dagur looked from her, and then back at Hiccup. Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins ran up to stand behind Astrid, their weapons drawn as well, their faces carrying the same, deadly glare.

" _FINE_ ," Dagur said, finally getting to his feet. "But mark my words, Hiccup. You will pay."

He turned and stomped away while the others approached Hiccup. There was a roar of a Night Fury, followed by Toothless bounding into the clearing. Astrid grabbed Hiccup's arm and yanked him to his feet more or less gently and instantly started looking him over.

"Are you hurt?" she asked, sounding worried. "Tell me he didn't hurt you."

"I'm okay," Hiccup said, batting her hands away. "I'm fine."

"Oh, good," Astrid said, breathing a sigh of relief. Almost instantly, a look of fury covered her face. "THEN WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" she shouted. "YOU IDIOT!" At this, she slugged his forearm. "YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!"

"Hey, at least Dagur's gone!" Snotlout said. "That's good, right?"

"Well, he won't be gone for long, actually," Hiccup said. "He's...coming back right now."

Dagur's screech of a warcry met their ears as he ran towards them, an axe raised over his head.


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey guys! So yeah, a bit of a spoiler: CLIFFHANGER! But I guess that's not a spoiler, really, is it? You all know me by now, you know how much I love cliffhangers. :) Enjoy chapter 20, and please don't kill me! I think there might be three to four chapters after this one, too...so yeah. Enjoy! :D**

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"Hiccup, any plan you can come up with in ten seconds?" Astrid asked him. "We don't have much time before he reaches us."

"Um...well, be careful," Hiccup said. "Don't die."

"Great," Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Now we're all inspired."

They jumped in opposite directions when Dagur reached them. Hiccup and Astrid stepped backwards, while the twins jumped to the left, and Snotlout and Fishlegs jumped to the right. Toothless stood behind Hiccup and Astrid, his teeth bared and ready for a fight.

"Hiccup!" Snotlout called. "Could you give us another speech? An _encouraging_ speech this time, please?"

"Um...okay," Hiccup said. He raised his knife over his head. "Berkians!" he shouted. "Let's...um...fight stuff!"

"That's good enough for me!" Astrid said. "Not my first choice of a battle cry, but why not?"

Dagur stared at them all with confusion. "Remember, Hiccup," he said. "I have the cure for your calipitis." He held the vial up and waved it back and forth. "I'll give it to you if you give up the Night Fury."

Hiccup wished there was a way to get the vial and save his friends, but he couldn't think of a plan at the moment. He had to give up Toothless to get the cure, and that was just something he wasn't willing to do.

"No," he said. "Keep it. See if I care. You can do whatever you want to me, but you don't touch my friends."

"Hiccup," Astrid whispered.

"I don't want the cure!" Hiccup said. "I don't want it if I have to trade for it! I'd rather DIE!"

Dagur sighed. "Pity," he said. "You and me could have been brothers, Hiccup, but instead, you chose to be my enemy, and I can't forgive that. I'm sorry, Hiccup, but it's time for you to die."

"I'd rather die loyal then live knowing I was a traitor to my friends," Hiccup said. "What are you going to do now, Dagur?"

Dagur lunged for him, and Hiccup met him in battle.

It was a strange thing, dying. Hiccup didn't think he would ever fully understand the concept. One thing is, since he knew he was going to die, there was no way he could have messed up. Dagur could stab him, and although it would be painful, in the end, it wouldn't change his fate. He would die no matter what Dagur did, and there wasn't two ways about it. He would die if Dagur stabbed him, and he would die if Dagur got away. His only hope was the cure, and Dagur wasn't going to give that up easily.

He had nothing to lose. He was going to die anyway. What could Dagur do to him?

Snotlout ran forward and slammed into Dagur. Dagur may have had more fighting skills, but it was six armed, angry Berkians and a Night Fury against one Chief of the Berserkers. Dagur was outnumbered, and he knew it. They all did.

The twins helped Snotlout, and Hiccup ran up to Astrid.

"I'm so sorry I let you down," he said. "I need you to get the others away from here. It's me Dagur wants. If he has me, he'll leave you and the others alone."

"We're not _leaving_ you," Astrid said. "I love your sarcasm, Hiccup. It's hilarious."

"Astrid, I'm serious," Hiccup said. "You know I'm dying. It's a miracle I'm still alive now. You have to get the others and leave before it's too late. Please, Astrid. Do it for me."

"I'm not leaving you," Astrid said. "I'll die with you if I have to. You can't fight Dagur alone."

Hiccup sighed.

"I have it!" Snotlout suddenly shouted. "I have the cure!" He waved the vial over his head while Ruffnut and Tuffnut pinned Dagur down. Hiccup and Astrid spun around as Snotlout tossed it to Fishlegs. Fishlegs caught the vial and looked at Hiccup.

"We have it," he said simply.

Dagur broke away from the twins and ran at Fishlegs. Hiccup, for a moment, didn't care about anything else. All he cared about was keeping his friends safe. If he died, then he died.

He met Dagur before Dagur got to Fishlegs. The force of Hiccup's body slamming into Dagur's sent both of them tumbling towards the edge of the cliffside.

"HICCUP!" Astrid shouted, just barely too late.

Hiccup and Dagur fell off the ledge.

It wasn't far of a drop, but it was enough to knock the wind out of Hiccup. For a few minutes, he laid on the ashy ground, trying to get his breathing under control.

Dagur approached him, standing over his body. "Useless," he mumbled. "You'll be dead by the time your friends reach you. You're nothing to me. I would kill you, but...well, it would be too easy. I'm not going to let you get out easily."

"I don't care," Hiccup spat.

"Of course you don't," Dagur said. "You're only dying."

Dagur leaned towards him. "So long, _brother_ ," he said as if the words were toxic.

"You were never my brother," Hiccup said in reply. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. His chest felt as if someone were stabbing it. Every beat of his heart was slower than the last.

 _It's over_ , Hiccup thought. _I'm going to die_.

"So long," Dagur said, saluting mockingly before running in the opposite direction, away from the dying dragon rider. Hiccup was angry. There were no words great enough to describe his anger towards Dagur. If Dagur hurt one of his friends…

Hiccup shut his eyes. His friends would be fine. They could fend for themselves. After all, they had Toothless. They would be fine.

The next thing Hiccup felt, when breathing became ever harder, was terror. He was terrified. He was dying now, and he wasn't liking the experience. It was slow and agonizing as his heart beats became slower and less frequent.

Suddenly, all at once, there was an overwhelming feeling of peace. He didn't know what it was or why he felt it, but the truth of the matter was that he did. Images of his friends raced through his mind: Fishlegs' insight on dragons, how excited he got whenever a new species was discovered...Snotlout's arrogance, yet at the same time, willingness to save a life...Ruffnut and Tuffnut's stupidity, and at the same time, their teamwork...Astrid's bravery, strong will, smile…

His friends were alive. That was the most important thing. As long as the others were alright. As long as Berk was safe…

And he was so _tired…_

He finally let his eyes shut. _It's over for me,_ he thought, _but at least my friends are safe._

With that on his mind, Hiccup breathed his last.

…

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted at him from over the ledge. She had gotten over to the side just in time to watch Dagur run away in the opposite direction. Hiccup was lying motionless on the ground. It was _not_ a good combination.

The other riders and Toothless swarmed around Astrid. Toothless and the girl were the first to react. Toothless roared while Astrid yelled Hiccup's name, jumping over the side of the ledge in order to reach him.

Astrid landed merely a few feet away from Hiccup, and instantly, she ran towards him. Toothless followed closely. The other riders jumped off the cliffside, and froze in shock as they watched Astrid collapse by Hiccup's side.

His face was ashen, his eyes closed. Astrid grabbed his hand to check for his pulse and instantly felt that his skin was cold. She tried to curl her fingers around his wrist, but her hands were shaking too much.

He couldn't have been dead. She couldn't think about that.

"Is...is he breathing?" Fishlegs asked shakily.

 _No_ , Astrid realized. Hiccup wasn't breathing. _He can't be dead! He can't be! Not when we came so close...we had the cure and everything! We were so, so, so close…_

Astrid didn't respond to Fishlegs. Instead, she bent over her friend and pressed her ear against his chest.

 _Please,_ she begged silently. _Please, please, please…_

"Well?" Snotlout said.

Astrid felt tears sting her eyes. "I can't…" she whispered. "I can't hear his heart."


	21. Chapter 21

She couldn't hear his heart.

But that meant…

...No.

"HICCUP!" Astrid screamed at him, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him back and forth roughly. "HICCUP!" Nothing. No response. He remained limp, pale, breathless and without a heartbeat.

He was dead.

But Astrid wasn't going to believe that.

"You can't do this to me, Hiccup!" she yelled. "You can't! You're stronger than this! Get up, Dragon Boy! GET UP, HICCUP!"

Behind her, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins took off their helmets, almost in perfect unison.

"It's not funny anymore, Hiccup!" Astrid cried. She was still holding onto the hope that he was faking it, as he had faked it in the prison cell. But she knew that he couldn't make his own heart stop beating. "Stop it! Stop it, Hiccup!" Astrid sobbed. "You're not dead! You're fine! You're fine, HICCUP!"

"Astrid, stop!" Snotlout shouted at her. His voice sounded oddly choked. She looked at him in time to watch him rub the tears off his face. "It's no use! He's gone!"

Astrid wanted to deny it. She wanted to yell at Hiccup's cousin and tell him that he was wrong, but there was no denying the truth.

Maybe...maybe Hiccup _was_ gone.

But that didn't mean Astrid was going to give up on him without a fight. She didn't care what the others thought. She knew Hiccup, and she knew that he wasn't one to give up so easily.

He wasn't dead.

She wasn't about to believe that he was.

"Fishlegs, the vial," she said, holding her hand back to him expectantly, not even looking in his direction. Her eyes remained glued to Hiccup's face.

"B-but-" Fishlegs started uncertainly.

"NOW, FISHLEGS!" Astrid demanded. Her friends were wasting her time. They didn't have time for this. None of them did.

"Fishlegs!" Snotlout said. "Do what she says! Give her the medicine!"

"But it won't do anything!" Fishlegs cried. "He's already gone!"

Silence fell as the others thought about the reality about what Fishlegs had said. Even Fishlegs looked shocked by the truth. Their leader, their heir, and more importantly their _friend_ , was dead.

Hiccup...it was almost too painful for them to think about. He had done so much for them and the others on Berk. To lose him for good would just be…

They didn't know how to describe it.

"Give me the vial," Astrid growled through clenched teeth, hoping that the tears falling from her eyes weren't obvious in her tone. "We have to try. Hiccup wouldn't give up on us so easily, and we're not going to give up on him, either."

Fishlegs stepped forward. "You're right," he said, placing the small bottle into the palm of her hand. "I believe you."

He didn't sound certain, but at least he wasn't arguing with her anymore. Astrid uncorked the vial with her thumb, ignored how badly it smelled, and forced its contents down Hiccup's throat.

She tossed it aside and held her breath.

"It won't work," Snotlout said. She felt his hand on her shoulder, and didn't pull away as she would have done any other day. "His heart stopped beating. The cure isn't going to circulate through his body. I'm sorry, Astrid. We've done all we can."

 _No we haven't_ , Astrid thought. _We're giving up on him now_.

"We're not giving up on him," Astrid snapped back at him, finally jerking away so that he pulled his hand back. How _dare_ he give up on Hiccup? Especially after all Hiccup did for Snotlout and the rest of Berk as a whole? How _dare_ he?

"Astrid-" Snotlout started, but Astrid tuned him out. She didn't want to hear him blab and blab about how Hiccup was dead. She knew he was, and she also knew that she was going to try to save him.

She wasn't going to give up on him.

Once she was sure he wasn't breathing and that his heart wasn't beating (both of which were even more terrifying to clarify yet a second time), she folded her hands over Hiccup's chest and pushed down repeatedly as she tried to get his heart to beat again.

"Come on, Hiccup," she sobbed as she desperately tried to bring her friend back. Nothing happened. "Don't do this. You can't do this to me. Just breathe. Breathe, Hiccup!"

"I can't watch this," Ruffnut said, grabbing her brother and hugging him fiercely. Tuffnut hugged her back in silent comfort. Snotlout and Fishlegs exchanged sorrowful glances before looking back at Astrid sadly.

"Astrid-" Fishlegs said.

"NO!" Astrid shouted so suddenly that she actually saw Fishlegs flinch violently. She thought about apologizing, but then she remembered how negative they were all being. Fishlegs had said that he believed her, but if actions really did speak louder then words, then he had been lying. "Shut up!" she snapped. "Please shut up!" When Hiccup didn't respond to the chest compressions, she pinched his nose closed, put her mouth over his, and tried to get him to breathe.

She tried not to give him too much air, since she knew that if she did that some would be forced into his stomach and he would throw up and they did _not_ need that, but she was panicking almost too much to care at that point.

Because she couldn't lose him.

She couldn't lose Hiccup.

"Astrid-" Fishlegs tried again.

Astrid ignored him entirely. When Hiccup still didn't breathe, and his heart didn't beat, she went back to the chest compressions, hoping that somehow, he would be okay. He had to be okay. If he wasn't…

She felt one of his ribs crack beneath her hands, and for a moment, was shocked with herself. An instant later, she shook her head and resumed her task. She would just have to be more careful and not push as hard. Her tears didn't stop falling, and she didn't try to hold them back.

She couldn't lose her friend. Not after everything they went through. Not after everything he did for her. Not after they got the cure...oh, why hadn't they reached him sooner? They could have used the cure then, before Hiccup died.

Astrid shook her head. She couldn't think of Hiccup as being dead.

She just couldn't.

"Come on, come _on_ , _come on_ ," Astrid tried, tried, and tried again. "Come on, Hiccup. Come on."

* * *

 **AND NOW I WANT TO RANT.**

 **I WANT TO RANT AT THIS HORRIBLE CLIFFHANGER, BECAUSE I JUST FINISHED READING THE FINAL BOOK IN THE HTTYD SERIES AND WHAT THE HECK THAT WAS A BEAUTIFUL YET SO SAD ENDING IT WAS GORGEOUS OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO GORGEOUS WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW! :D**

 **I really love the books...there are a few things I wish we would see in the movie franchise, but we probably won't...like the fact that Hiccup could speak, like, five fluent languages, the fact that Hiccup (SPOILERS FOR BOOK TWELVE YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED) became King of the Wilderwest and all, like we all knew he would because of all the previous Epilogues and Prologues and stuff, Hiccup's sword Endeavor, Book Toothless, Camicazi, the fact that Fishlegs is Alvin the Treacherous' son...**

 **But most importantly, I am going to miss, _THIS:_**

 ** _"DON'T KILL ME JUST BECAUSE I'M A REDHEAD, NORBERT!"_**

 **Seriously. Hiccup started a war shouting that, omgosh...**

 **Anyways...**

 **BYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEE! :D :D :D**


	22. Chapter 22

Astrid put her mouth against Hiccup and tried to give him some air. His chest rose, she pulled away, his chest fell, and she repeated it again. Then she continued with the chest compressions.

"Don't-" (push) "-do-" (push) "-this-" (push) "-to-" (push) "-us-" (push) "Hicc-" (push) "-up," Astrid chanted between compressions. Behind her, Ruffnut was crying while Tuffnut tried in vain to comfort his sister, Fishlegs squeezed his eyes shut although tears still slipped past his lids, and Snotlout was desperately trying to look as manly as possible, which was a challenge considering his tears.

None of them wanted to believe that their leader - the person who single-handedly ended the three hundred year war between vikings and dragons, who defeated Outcasts and bested Dagur the Deranged, who was kind and selfless and always put others before himself, who never once thought about his own life over the ones around him, who never took his friends for granted, who never even once thought that maybe by doing what he did today, he wouldn't make it out alive, who decided that it was a great enough risk if he would save his friends - was dead, but the evidence was right in front of them, and there was no denying the truth.

"I'm sorry, Hiccup," Snotlout whispered, bowing his head. "I'm not the cousin you deserved. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The others weren't taking it well, either. Ruffnut was sobbing, and Tuffnut didn't look much different. Fishlegs looked shocked and panicked and full of regret and sorrow all at once. Snotlout was...anything _but_ cheery.

And Astrid…

"HICCUP!" Astrid screamed, her voice cracking multiple times. She paused the compressions for just a moment to see if there was any improvement, but Hiccup still Hiccup wasn't breathing, and his heart still wasn't breathing. "Hiccup!" she cried. Snotlout winced. "Don't do this! Don't do this, please don't do this! I-If you're dead, Hiccup…! !" She continued the chest compressions, tried to get him to breathe, and then continued.

She was taking it worse then anyone else. Who knew how much the death of one person could have affected the dragon riders? None of them wanted to imagine how they would tell Stoick, or the other Berkians, even, about the death of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third.

It was almost too horrible to believe, Hiccup being dead, but there was no denying evidence.

"DON'T-" Astrid yelled at the top of her lungs. She pushed down on his chest with more force, forgetting about how she could have snapped another one of his ribs. "-BE-" She pushed down harder the second time, both of her fists balled. _He can't be gone. He can't be gone. He isn't gone. He can't be. He can't be. He can't be..._ "-DEAD!" She finally finished, slamming her hands down onto his chest.

Hiccup gasped once before ceasing to breathe again. Astrid could barely stop her tears of relief. There was a chance. She was doing it right. She kept pressing his chest repeatedly.

"COME ON!" she yelled. "Come on, Hiccup! You can do this! Don't be dead! You can do it! You can do it! YOU CAN DO IT! BREATHE!"

Hiccup's eyes flew open and he coughed violently.

Astrid could have sworn Snotlout jumped three feet in the air.

Fishlegs shouted something along the lines of "SMOTHERING SMOKEBREATH DRAGONS!" while the twins looked up so fast they ended up smashing their heads together.

Astrid's eyes went wide with terror as Hiccup kept coughing. In panic, she manhandled him into a sitting position and swatted him on the back multiple times in an attempt to stop his choking. She wasn't going to have him stop breathing again. She hit him probably harder than she intended to, but she didn't care. She could apologize some other time.

At length, Hiccup finally stopped coughing, doubled over in Astrid's arms, panting heavily, gasping for breath. Astrid still couldn't believe it. He was alive. She saved him. She squeezed him, and he yelped when she applied pressure to his ribs.

Just another thing she felt guilty about.

"Oh my gosh," Astrid breathed as she hugged Hiccup, not caring how the position was awkward. All she cared about was that he was alright. He was breathing. His heart was beating. And what was better, his calipitis was gone. He was cured. She hid her tears in his scalp. She didn't want the others to see her crying.

Hiccup, meanwhile, blinked rapidly as if not seeing properly. He coughed roughly, his arm wrapped around his ribs. Astrid laid him back carefully, making sure she was as gentle as possible.

"Astrid," he breathed. His voice was nearly gone; a raspy whisper was all he managed. "You're alive." Astrid nodded, and he smiled weakly. All at once, a look of shock and confusion crossed over Hiccup's face, his smile fading slowly. "Or are we both dead?" he said as if it had just occurred to him.

Astrid shook her head. "No, we're alive," she said. "We all are. Thanks to you, idiot."

"Glad...to see I'm...appreciated," Hiccup managed. "I had the strangest dream. You wouldn't believe it, Astrid, but I think I died."

Astrid glanced over her shoulder at Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins. "You _did_ die, Hiccup, partially," she said, turning back to face him. Hiccup nodded as if he had been expecting the answer. "We found you here a few minutes ago. How much do you remember?" Astrid asked.

"I...remember doing something...incredibly stupid…" Hiccup said. "And then...I was fighting Dagur...a ledge came out of no where...I tackled him him, fell down a few feet, Dagur said I was dying and that I was no use to him...and then he left, and...I don't really...all I remember was...being terrified, and then being abnormally peaceful, and then...not feeling anything. Then I woke up coughing. Um...what happened?"

"You attacked Dagur," Astrid said. "He had the crossbow aimed at us, you knocked it away, and then the two of you tumbled down that hill. We found you dead here. I revived you."

"Seriously, Hiccup," Snotlout said, stepping towards his cousin, "do you have a death wish?"

"Not that I know of," Hiccup said. He examined Snotlout's face carefully. "Sweet Speed Stinger," he gasped. "You've been cry-"

" _Tell. No one_ ," Snotlout said, although he didn't sound one hundred percent serious. "Anyways...welcome back to the land of the living, cuz."

"Uh...yeah, wel-welcome back to me," Hiccup said unenthusiastically. He raised a fist into the air. "Woo," he mumbled. "It feels great to breathe. I'm never taking advantage of air again."

"You do that," Astrid said. "We're going to build a raft and get home."

"Sounds brilliant," Hiccup said, "because I'm just going to...pass out now." Before anyone could ask what he fully meant, he was unconscious.

"Hiccup?" Fishlegs said nervously.

"Let him rest," Astrid said. "He's beyond exhausted. We should start building a raft. The sooner we get home the better."

"Astrid," Snotlout said as he approached her, "I just want to say...um...thank you. You know, for...not giving up on Hiccup. And for being strong for us. We needed that."

Astrid looked back at him and nodded. "You're welcome," she said.

* * *

 **Soooo sorry to all who wanted Hiccup dead! I just couldn't let him die again...sorry! If you're disappointed, I'll write a one-shot surrounding an alternate ending where he died, if you guys want it, but let me know. :)**

 **And I think the story's almost over. There'll probably be only two chapters left after this, because I don't have a whole lot more to close...just tying up some loose ends. ;) Let me know what you think! :D**


	23. Chapter 23

**Thank you so much for being patient, guys! :D This is the second to last chapter in the fanfiction, and I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks for sticking with me, all of you! :D I know it's been a while since my last update, and I'm so sorry about that! :( But thanks! :D Enjoy chapter 23! :D**

* * *

"Okay," Astrid said, clapping her hands together. "For a starters, we should look for any logs or pieces of driftwood, and grab any that we find. Ruffnut and Tuffnut, if you two think you can be stealthy enough, you can actually got to the village and nab some supplies."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut saluted and ran off. Astrid, despite the fact that she would never say it out loud, trusted the twins. They were smarter then they let on, and despite their often stupidity, they were reliable when they needed to be.

"Okay, and the three of us-" Astrid continued, pointing to Snotlout and Fishlegs "-can start using what we have." She made a move to step forward, but Snotlout stopped her.

"No, not the three of us," he said. "The _two_ of us. You can stay with Hiccup. I know you want to." Astrid wanted to argue, but she didn't, only because she knew Snotlout was right. She didn't want to leave Hiccup, even for a few minutes. She nodded to Snotlout.

"Alright," she said, "as long as you're sure you don't need my help."

"We'll let you know if we do," Snotlout promised. "Now you take care of Hiccup. Fishface and I will start on the raft, and as soon as the twins get back, we'll head out. The sooner we get back to Berk the better."

While Snotlout turned and began yelling orders to Fishlegs, Astrid went back to Hiccup and knelt next to him again. He still looked terribly pale, but his breathing was steady, albeit raspy. Astrid was thankful for that, but she couldn't help but worry about what damage she might have done to his ribs.

With shaking hands, she ran her fingers over his ribcage in an attempt to learn which ones were broken or cracked. So far, she felt two cracked ones. She winced every time her fingertip brushed against one of the bulges that indicated rib damage. When she reminded herself that she saved Hiccup's life and that ribs could heal, she felt a little better.

She felt guilty when she noticed how he was struggling to breathe, if just slightly. He may have been cured of his calipitis, but with his ribs in bad shape, she knew his lungs weren't expanding properly. She lifted his upper body and leaned him against a slightly larger patch of sand. After a few moments, his breathing deepened again.

She had cracked one of her ribs in the past, and she knew how uncomfortable laying flat on her back was afterwards. The new position made Hiccup's breathing come easily, and that settled Astrid's fried nerves. Losing Hiccup had almost become too much.

She felt something bump her from behind, and she turned around to look at Toothless, who was staring at Hiccup with worry. Astrid placed her hand on his muzzle in a way of silent reassurance.

"He'll be alright, Toothless," Astrid said calmly, hoping that she wasn't lying to the dragon. "He's got a few cracked ribs," she looked back at Hiccup guiltily. _I saved his life, though_ , she reminded herself. _Cracked ribs are nothing compared to losing your life. He doesn't blame me, and he won't do it later, either. I can stop blaming myself._ "But they'll heal soon enough" she said, looking back at Toothless. "He'll be back to his old self in no time, so don't you worry about it."

She didn't know who she was talking to more: herself or Toothless. She looked at Hiccup once again with concern. Sure, she knew that he was going to be alright, but that really didn't help her much. She moved to sit beside him, listening to him breathe, part of her worried that it would stop again.

She shook her head to forget about that. She couldn't think about him not breathing again. It was too terrifying. She put her hand against his chest gingerly to feel his heartbeat against her hand. It was strong and regular. She sat back, breathing a sigh of relief.

He was cured from his calipitis, and he was alive. Those were the only important things on Astrid's mind. She thought about getting Hiccup home on Toothless, but she wasn't very good at navigating with the tailfin, and it would be even harder if she was struggling to keep an unconscious Hiccup on Toothless' back as well. Besides, she knew Hiccup would hate leaving the others behind, even if they were going to follow soon. They could be captured by the Berserkers again, and that was something that they couldn't risk.

After an hour and the other riders were still building the raft, Hiccup stirred, blinking his eyes open and looking at Astrid first, and then at Toothless.

"Hi," he said. His voice was still raspy and weak, but his breathing seemed stronger now that he was awake.

"Hey," Astrid replied. "How are you feeling?"

In response, Hiccup draped his arm over his eyes. "I've been better," he said.

"I mean, how do you _feel?"_ Astrid said. "Does anything hurt?"

"My ribs," Hiccup said, "but it isn't bad." His facial expressions were denying everything he was saying. If he was lying, his face displayed it. He looked as though he were in a tremendous amount of pain.

"Sorry about your ribs," Astrid said. "I wasn't exactly being as gentle as possible with the chest compressions-"

"Are you _kidding me_ , Astrid?" Hiccup said, sounding more shocked than anything else. "Are you beating yourself up over the fact you may have bruised a few of my ribs? You saved my _life,_ Astrid, and I thank you for that. Except…" He averted his gaze and sighed.

"What?" Astrid asked. "What is it?" It took her a moment, but then it occurred to her: Hiccup didn't know that they gave him the cure. For all she knew, he could still be thinking he was dying.

"Hiccup," Astrid said, "we got the cure." Hiccup turned to her so suddenly she almost jumped. "You're cured from your calipitis. You aren't going to die."

Hiccup was staring at her as if wondering whether or not she was joking. "Y-you mean...you mean you...you really...you and the others…"

Astrid nodded eagerly. "You're going to be alright, Hiccup," she said enthusiastically.

Hiccup moved forward and captured her in an embrace. After a moment and making sure she wasn't touching any of his cracked ribs, she hugged him back. He was going to be alright, and that was the most important thing.

"Oh gosh," Hiccup gasped into her shoulder. "I can't...I can't...you have _no idea_ …"

"I do," Astrid said. "You're welcome. We wouldn't have ever left this island without you getting that cure. None of us would have."

Hiccup nodded, half laughing and half sobbing with relief. At length, when his ribs had had enough, he sat back, leaning his head against Astrid's shoulder. She let him, her arm wrapped around his bony shoulder blades in silent comfort as he kept one of his own arms positioned around his ribs in pain.

Toothless stood over them and looked around, alert, ready for any Berserkers that tried to take them down.

"I think we're being guarded now," Astrid smiled, looking down at Hiccup. Her grin faded when she realized that he was either asleep, or had passed out again. She didn't blame him for either. She knew he was in pain and exhausted, and since he had the cure, his body was still fighting against the calipitis. It must have been tiring in it of itself.

She pulled him closer as gentle as she could have been and kissed his temple softly. She sat back and closed her eyes for a split second.

Then, all of a sudden, there was commotion. Snotlout and Fishlegs began waving their hands back and forth, shouting, "OVER HERE!" over and over again. Astrid looked at the ocean, where they were waving at, and couldn't stop herself from gasping.

A Berkian ship was coming towards them.


	24. Chapter 24

**Heeeeeeey, guys, LAST CHAPTER! :D :D :D WHOOOOOOO! This fic is OVER! Sorry it took me so long. :( I have tons of excuses that I'm not going to spend a bunch of time writing down. ;) So, anyways, enjoy the last chapter! Sorry if the ending's a bit abrupt. :D ENJOY! :D**

* * *

The Berkian ship docked on the shore. Instantly, Stoick and a few other soldiers jumped onto the sandy beach.

Astrid had never been more relieved in her life. So much for the raft. They wouldn't need that anymore. She looked at the twins, Snotlout and Fishlegs. They were beaming brightly, their faces full of relief.

"Stoick!" Snotlout shouted. "You have _no idea_ how happy we are to see-"

"Hiccup," Stoick said, looking at Snotlout. "Where's Hiccup?"

"Over here!" Astrid called, waving Stoick over. Instantly, the Berkian Chief ran towards her and his unconscious son. Stoick fell to his knees, taking Hiccup's limp form into his arms. "C-Careful," Astrid said, trying to keep her voice from cracking although it cracked anyway. "A few of his ribs are cracked."

"He's alive," Stoick breathed, hugging Hiccup close to his chest. "He's alive." He said it with such disbelief that Astrid was almost taken back. But then she remembered that it had been about two weeks since Hiccup was diagnosed with calipitis. For all Stoick knew, Hiccup should have been dead.

But he wasn't.

"Dagur had the cure for calipitis," Astrid informed him. "We stole it from him and gave it to Hiccup. He's alright, Stoick. He's still exhausted, and he's still got a fever, but he'll be alright."

Stoick sighed with relief. "Oh, thank goodness…" he breathed in awe, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms even tighter around Hiccup, almost protectively. "We have to get off this island," he said, looking up at Astrid before rising to a stand once again, Hiccup cradled in his fatherly arms. "We've been trying to get here for days. It took a while to get the fleet together, or else we would have gotten here sooner-"

"The fact is you came," Snotlout said as they boarded the boat. "That's really the important thing, isn't it? Hiccup's alright, and you guys are here. Now let's go home. I've had enough of Berserk for a lifetime."

Toothless snorted in agreement, following the Berkians onto the ship. As soon as everyone was boarded, they headed back towards Berk.

…

Hiccup cracked his eyes open, feeling more exhausted then he had ever felt before in his life. He sat up, biting his lip to keep from crying out, wrapping his arm around his ribs. He could feel bandages shifting against his skin, and could only imagine that his ribs had been wrapped.

Which meant he was home.

He looked around the room: _his_ room, at his house, back on his island. He was home. He and the other riders were. They were safe from the Berserkers.

Something growled happily and nudged him from the side. Hiccup smiled at his dragon, putting his hand on Toothless' head.

"Hey, buddy," he said. In response, Toothless cooed happily, his tail thumping against the floor. He licked Hiccup, and Hiccup didn't have the heart to tell him to back off. "Yeah, I know you're happy!" Hiccup said, trying and failing to avoid his dragon's tongue after the third lick. At length, Toothless backed away, tilting his head sideways.

"Okay," Hiccup said, tossing the blanket off his body and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He winced in pain, but said nothing. He didn't want to worry Toothless again.

Well, that wasn't so hard.

Now came the hard part.

 _Walking_.

He wasn't exactly open to the idea of heading downstairs, but at the same time, he didn't want to stay in bed. He wanted to see his friends. He wanted to see how they were doing, and he knew he wasn't going to figure either of those things out unless he found out himself.

Toothless growled at him. "It's okay, buddy," Hiccup reassured offhandedly. "I'm fine."

The dragon was _not_ convinced.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Look," he said, "I'll be fine, you know. Don't worry about me anymore."

Just as he was about to push himself to his feet, he heard the sound of the door creaking open, followed by heavy footsteps. Before Hiccup had a chance to react otherwise, his father was standing in the doorway.

"Son," he breathed, "you're alright." Before Hiccup knew what was happening, he was captured in his father's tight embrace. He ignored his aching ribs and hugged his father back. He was home. He didn't think he would ever be home again. He was sure that he was going to die on Berserk.

But he wasn't. He was home. He was safe.

At length, Stoick pulled away, holding Hiccup by his shoulders. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Fine," Hiccup said. "My ribs are a little sore, but other then that, I'm fine. How long was I out?" he asked.

"Only two days," Stoick answered, "which is quite short a time considering all you went through. You nearly gave me a heart attack, Hiccup. We found you and your friends on Berserk...I thought you were dead when I first saw you."

Hiccup dropped his gaze. "Sorry," he said.

Stoick shook his head. "Don't apologize, Hiccup," he said. "It wasn't your fault. Astrid told me everything." He rose to a stand, a smile forming on his lips. "Speaking of which," he said, "I should go get them. They've been waiting for you to wake up."

As if on cue, multiple footsteps met their ears. After about five seconds, Astrid and the other riders appeared in the doorway, beaming like mad.

"Hiccup!" they chorused in unison. Astrid was the first to react. She ran forward and threw her arms around Hiccup, squeezing him to the point where it caused pain.

"Okay, okay, Astrid, watch my ribs," he said, hugging her back briefly.

Astrid stepped back, her hands on his shoulders. "I swear, Hiccup," she said, "if you scare me like that again, you're going to be a double amputee, got it?"

"Yeah, I missed you too, Astrid," Hiccup said in response. "What about you? Are you and the others alright?"

"Seriously, Hiccup?" Snotlout questioned. "You just narrowly escape death by calipitis and the first thing you think about is _us_?"

Hiccup nodded, and Snotlout groaned. "So, you were worried too then, Snotlout?" Hiccup asked although he already knew the answer.

Snotlout turned to him suddenly. "Of course not!" he said. "I wasn't worried! I knew you would be alright...and not that I care about you, or anything."

"Yeah, sure," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes. "It's great to see you again too, Snotlout."

Snotlout crossed his arms. "Well...um...yeah, like Astrid said," he said. "Don't scare us like that again, alright?"

Hiccup nodded.

It was great to be home.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **WOW this took me a long time to write, but it's done now! Yay! *streamers* *happy dance* *crashes into bookshelf* So, I hope you all enjoyed this piece and look forward to my next story as well. :)**

 **Until next story! :D**

 **-BeyondTheClouds777**


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